Career
Tan's career in public service began in the late 1960s when he joined the Public Works Department as a junior engineer. Shortly after establishing the Water Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Office in 1971,Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew tasked Tan and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment,Lee Ek Tieng,with drafting Singapore's first water master plan.
In 1974,Tan joined the Ministry of the Environment's environmental engineering division. As head of the Drainage Department,Tan formulated a five-year drainage improvement proposal with Lee Ek Tieng. The Cabinet of Singapore quickly approved of their S$100 million programme,which led to a significance decrease in the incidence of floods nationwide.
On 27 February 1977,Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew challenged the Ministry of the Environment to clean up Singapore's waterways—including the Singapore River and the rivers in the Kallang Basin—within ten years. Tan joined a task force led by Lee Ek Tieng and was tasked with drafting a master plan that would identify the various sources of water pollution. The eventual operation was regarded as a success by Lee Kuan Yew. Tan,Lee Ek Tieng,and eight other civil servants who were involved in the cleanup were each presented with a solid gold medal at a Clean River Commemoration ceremony on 2 September 1987.
In October 1989,Tan replaced Chen Hung as principal of Ngee Ann Polytechnic. [8] Tan relinquished his position in March 1995 to succeed Tan Guong Ching as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Environment. On 1 April 2001,Tan became chairman of the Public Utilities Board (PUB). In 2015,he was awarded the President's Science and Technology Medal—the highest scientific honour in Singapore—for "his pivotal role in harnessing science and technology to enable Singapore to achieve sustainable water supply." [11] On 31 March 2017,Tan announced his resignation as PUB chairman. He was succeeded the next day by Chiang Chie Foo.
In October 2020,Tan succeeded Liew Mun Leong as chairman of Changi Airport Group. Tan will be succeeded by Lim Ming Yan on 1 April 2025. [13]
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