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Riding the new wave

The tourism sector provides a challenging yet rewarding work environment, says Ms Leow.
PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

GETTING a scholarship can be a big help financially, but it may mean more stress from having to deliver consistently good grades at university and later, serve a bond with the sponsor.

But being a scholar “did not put additional pressure” on Mr Kenneth Chua.

Now an engineer at the Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore’s national water agency, where he is serving a six-year bond, the 25-year-old says his scholarship allowed him to make better use of his time while studying overseas.

“Assured of a job, I had the freedom to spend my holidays sight-seeing and go on excursions, further expanding my horizons, rather than spending time and energy sourcing for internships and jobs,” he says.

Mr Chua spent three years in the United Kingdom to do his Bachelor of Arts in Mechanical Engineering at Cambridge University, on a PUB Overseas Scholarship, the precursor to the National Environment and Water (NEW) Scholarship.

The former student of Anglican High School and Victoria Junior College opted for his degree programme as “the course offers a broad spectrum of engineering-related topics and acts as an excellent springboard to fields outside of engineering”.

He says: “Although the course was rather challenging, the unique tutorial system where there were only two students to one tutor certainly helped in academic-related problems, and also strengthened the bond between students and the faculty.”

The avid soccer fan and movie buff picked the scholarship as he was on the lookout for one that would bring him into “new and uncharted areas, rather than established ones”.

“Given the intense urbanisa-tion, governments the world over would have to continually address the challenges of basic amenities, among others adequate water provision. The task of ensuring sufficient water for everyone is one that I find particularly challenging and exciting.

“The global water industry is still rather nascent. I hope to ride on this wave and be at the forefront of the growing water industry,” he adds.

His decision was met with approval from those around him. “Seeing that water might be the ‘new gold’ in years to come, coupled with the burgeoning global water industry, both my parents and friends were very encouraging towards a PUB scholarship,” he says.

And they were spot on. The environment and water industry has been identified as a key growth sector in Singapore. Jobs in this area are expected to increase to 20,000, and these in turn will triple the industry’s economic value-add to $1.7 billion by 2015.

Mr Chua’s first, and current, posting is at the Policy and Planning Department in the Environmental Planning Division.

He looks at environmental issues and their impact on PUB’s operations. “As part of my work scope, I am reviewing some of the climate change projections made by eminent scientists and translating them into policy decisions. This is one aspect that I find par-ticularly testing and challenging.”

Prior to this, he underwent two internships which allowed him “to see and be involved in different facets of the organisation”.

Mr Chua explains: “To make effective planning decisions in PUB, you would need operational experience to be aware of some of the nuances that would impose curtailments on your planning parameters. Therefore I hope to move to operations in my next posting to acquire this awareness.”

He adds: “Experience counts a lot in the water industry, so I will endeavour to gain more experience by participating in various kinds of projects and continue to build up my fundamentals in this realm.”