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10-07-13, 11:27
http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/top-the-news/story/stalled-mrt-project-get-caretaker-20130710
Stalled MRT project to get caretaker
This is to ensure worksite safety till new contractors are appointed
Published on Jul 10, 2013
By Goh Chin Lian
A CARETAKER contractor will be appointed to ensure safety on a stalled section of the Downtown MRT Line 2, after the main contractor went bust.
As a result of the work stoppage, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew expects a delay in the project as well as additional costs.
The line, which links Bukit Panjang to Bugis, was initially due to be completed by 2015.
But the full extent of the impact will be known only after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) completes its assessment in a few weeks, Mr Lui told Parliament yesterday.
Austrian contractor Alpine Bau had been working on three of the line's 12 stations when it filed for insolvency on June 19, catching the LTA by surprise.
The three stations are King Albert Park, Sixth Avenue and Tan Kah Kee, in a stretch lined with top-name schools.
Work on these stations has been suspended.
Industry players have reportedly said the most optimistic outcome would be a six-month slowdown.
Mr Lui assured MPs Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) and Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) that the LTA's immediate priority was to ensure the safety and security of the worksites and equipment.
This included securing partly completed structures and calling in specialists to maintain tunnel boring machines and recharge wells, on top of ensuring that Alpine's workers were looked after.
The caretaker contractor will also maintain the machines before the new contractors are appointed.
Transport expert Gopinath Menon said such a contractor should have experience in tunnel construction, which would include existing contractors building the rest of the MRT line.
But whether any one of them could take over the job depends on the criteria drawn up in the new tender, he added.
Mr Lui confirmed that with Alpine's contracts terminated, it has no option to resume works. Ms Lim had asked if Alpine could continue the works, an option she said was being explored with the company in Norway.
Mr Lui expects the Singapore authorities to file claims with the insolvency administrator by next month. He also disclosed that Singapore agencies hold "quite a significant sum of money" from the performance bond and the payments yet to be made for completed works.
Alpine Bau, owned by Spanish group FCC, had done about half of the work on the three stations and tunnels. The contract it won in 2009 amounts to $670.74 million.
Mr Lui said he shared Mr de Souza's concern for parents who had hoped that their children could take the MRT to the congested Bukit Timah school belt that includes Methodist Girls' School, Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls' High School and National Junior College.
"I share those same concerns because my constituency is on the other side of the same road," he quipped.
With an eye on getting Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road back to normal as quickly as possible, he said: "LTA is looking at all means available to it to keep the disruption to the minimum and the delay to as short a time as possible."
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Stalled MRT project to get caretaker
This is to ensure worksite safety till new contractors are appointed
Published on Jul 10, 2013
By Goh Chin Lian
A CARETAKER contractor will be appointed to ensure safety on a stalled section of the Downtown MRT Line 2, after the main contractor went bust.
As a result of the work stoppage, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew expects a delay in the project as well as additional costs.
The line, which links Bukit Panjang to Bugis, was initially due to be completed by 2015.
But the full extent of the impact will be known only after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) completes its assessment in a few weeks, Mr Lui told Parliament yesterday.
Austrian contractor Alpine Bau had been working on three of the line's 12 stations when it filed for insolvency on June 19, catching the LTA by surprise.
The three stations are King Albert Park, Sixth Avenue and Tan Kah Kee, in a stretch lined with top-name schools.
Work on these stations has been suspended.
Industry players have reportedly said the most optimistic outcome would be a six-month slowdown.
Mr Lui assured MPs Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) and Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) that the LTA's immediate priority was to ensure the safety and security of the worksites and equipment.
This included securing partly completed structures and calling in specialists to maintain tunnel boring machines and recharge wells, on top of ensuring that Alpine's workers were looked after.
The caretaker contractor will also maintain the machines before the new contractors are appointed.
Transport expert Gopinath Menon said such a contractor should have experience in tunnel construction, which would include existing contractors building the rest of the MRT line.
But whether any one of them could take over the job depends on the criteria drawn up in the new tender, he added.
Mr Lui confirmed that with Alpine's contracts terminated, it has no option to resume works. Ms Lim had asked if Alpine could continue the works, an option she said was being explored with the company in Norway.
Mr Lui expects the Singapore authorities to file claims with the insolvency administrator by next month. He also disclosed that Singapore agencies hold "quite a significant sum of money" from the performance bond and the payments yet to be made for completed works.
Alpine Bau, owned by Spanish group FCC, had done about half of the work on the three stations and tunnels. The contract it won in 2009 amounts to $670.74 million.
Mr Lui said he shared Mr de Souza's concern for parents who had hoped that their children could take the MRT to the congested Bukit Timah school belt that includes Methodist Girls' School, Hwa Chong Institution, Nanyang Girls' High School and National Junior College.
"I share those same concerns because my constituency is on the other side of the same road," he quipped.
With an eye on getting Bukit Timah Road and Dunearn Road back to normal as quickly as possible, he said: "LTA is looking at all means available to it to keep the disruption to the minimum and the delay to as short a time as possible."
[email protected]