Restrictions on sand exports by Vietnam will not hurt supply in Singapore
Tan Hui Leng & Imelda Saad
Channel NewsAsia
Wednesday, 7 October 2009, 2243 hrs
Singapore's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said Wednesday the recent restrictions on sand exports by Vietnam have not affected the supply of construction sand to Singapore.
It was responding to MediaCorp New's enquiries following reports that
Vietnam has
suspended exports of sand to the island-state due to concerns that the current pace of extraction will damage the Mekong Delta.
BCA said Singapore's import of construction sand is a commercial activity, and added that the industry has been importing construction sand from various countries in the region.
Singapore has also started using recycled materials as an alternative to construction sand.
BCA said in October last year that two companies - Holcim and ecoWise - have set up the Geocycle Singapore plant to process copper slag for concreting and other uses.
Separately, the construction industry here said it has not yet felt the impact of any immediate sand shortage.
Property analysts said although
developers are likely to
pass on any increase in construction cost to the consumers, whether contractors will jack up prices is another question.
Cushman and Wakefield Singapore's managing director Donald Han noted that construction costs have come down by some 20 to 25% since the peak in mid-2008, and is still in a bit of lull.
"In 2007, the market was hit quite substantially as there were big ticket tenders out on the market place like the Integrated Resorts," said Han.
"Now, there are hardly any billion-dollar projects, even the construction of the Sports Hub has been deferred; residential projects are not big ticket items and will not create competition for the sand."
The Indonesian ban on sand two years ago saw the industry facing a sand supply crunch for at least two to three months.
Then, concrete prices went up from S$70 to S$200 per cubic metre.
Sand prices also went up from S$20 to between S$60 and S$70 per cubic metre as alternative distant sources were sought.