Construction boom halted in 2012 in China, causing a disrupt both in private funding and government support. Many investors pulled out from the project to cut their loses. The Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city project, which is not far, is a project of similar size and scale. Although it is currently not occupied by a lot of people, residents are beginning to slowly fill in. Part of this is due to the continued funding by the Singapore government (as that project is a joint venture between the Chinese and Singapore government whereas this project is not) Thus not categorized here. There appears to be minimum funding from the Chinese government on

this project, and thus when the economic stalemate hit, the private developers were quick to abandon it.

       Tangshan Caofeidian Development Investment Group Co., Ltd. provides urban infrastructure construction services. It offers civil engineering and construction services for roads, water supply facilities, thermal facilities, power supply facilities, sewage treatment plant, and industrial parks. In addition, the company engages in land reclamation, pig iron sales, property leasing, heating, concrete, sewage treatment, hotel, logistics, and transport sectors.

      The Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city, on the other hand, is funded by the deep-pocket Singapore government. Launched in 2007, it is slated to be the second flagship government-to-government project between Singapore and China following the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park which started in 1994.

      According to NLB information, the project was mooted by then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong when he met then Chinese premier Wen Jiabao on 25 Apr 2007. Wen then agreed to Goh’s suggestion in principle and quickly moved to implement the idea, resulting in the signing of a framework agreement by Wen and PM Lee in Nov, 7 months later.

     A 30 sq km site 40 km from the Tianjin city was selected. The Tianjin eco-city was projected to cost about S$9.7 billion. On 28 Sep 2008, construction of the eco-city commenced with a ground-breaking ceremony officiated by Goh and Wen. Targeted for completion over 10 to 15 years, the Tianjin eco-city is planned to support a population of 350,000.

     However, according to a recent report from Worldcrunch, quoting its source from French mainstream newspaper Le Monde, presently only 30,000 or less than 10% of the targeted residents live in the eco-city. This is 8 years into the development, not too far from the completion targeted timing.

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