{"errors":[{"message":"Cannot return null for non-nullable field PageInfo.currentIndex.","locations":[{"line":13,"column":13}],"path":["newsBetween","pageInfo","currentIndex"]}],"data":{"newsBetween":{"items":[{"title":"Mr.","date":"2016-07-22 17:43:00","id":548,"author":"1","blurb":"

Singapore and Malaysia have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) Project. Both countries expect to work towards commencing HSR operations by around 2026.

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Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR) Project.

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The MOU captures the key points of agreement on the project, which include the technical parameters, commercial model, customs, immigration & quarantine (CIQ) clearance, safety & security matters, regulatory framework, as well as project management. In addition, the MOU will guide the development of a legally binding bilateral agreement to be signed by both countries towards the end of this year. The MOU also reiterates the countries’ commitment to ensure that all project tenders are conducted in an open, fair and transparent manner, so as to encourage participation from technology and service providers worldwide.

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Singapore and Malaysia have agreed that each will take responsibility for developing, constructing and maintaining the civil infrastructure and stations within their own countries, which will be undertaken by MyHSR Corporation and LTA (as InfraCos) in Malaysia and Singapore respectively. Through international tenders, an assets company (AssetsCo) will be appointed to provide and maintain the HSR trains and its associated systems (e.g. track, power, signalling and telecommunications), while two train operating companies (OpCos) will be appointed to operate the HSR services. OpCo International will operate the cross-border services (i.e. the Express Service and the Shuttle Service), while OpCo Domestic will operate the Domestic Service within Malaysia.

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It is planned that the HSR will have eight stations – the termini in Bandar Malaysia and Singapore, and six intermediate stations in Putrajaya, Seremban, Ayer Keroh, Muar, Batu Pahat and Iskandar Puteri. All stations will be designed to integrate with the local public transport systems to ensure seamless connectivity. The trains will run at a top speed of more than 300 km/hr. To facilitate swift and seamless travel, both countries have agreed to co-locate CIQ facilities at three locations – Singapore, Iskandar Puteri and Kuala Lumpur – so that international-bound passengers will need to undergo CIQ clearance by both Malaysia and Singapore authorities only at the point of departure.

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Singapore and Malaysia have also agreed to form a bilateral committee comprising representatives from both governments to manage and regulate aspects of the project, which might impact the cross-border services. In addition, a Joint Project Team comprising representatives from MyHSR Corporation and LTA will be formed to coordinate joint aspects of planning and development works prior to the commencement of operations. As a next step, the Joint Project Team will call for an international tender next month to appoint a Joint Development Partner to provide technical support to both countries on the project.

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HSR operations are expected to commence by around 2026.

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In another statement, LTA said it will be calling an advance engineering study (AES) tender to invite bids from consultants to carry out engineering studies for the Singapore stretch of the HSR project. The AES will include looking into the HSR alignment within Singapore, the architectural and engineering design of the terminus in Singapore, noise and vibration issues, as well as the preparation of tender documents for the construction phase of the project. The tender will be called within the next month. The AES is expected to commence by the first quarter of 2017 and will take about 18 - 24 months to complete.

\r\n","article_image_uid":"2016/07/22/18/00/08/342/20160719_JointNR_HSRAnnexC_Upload.jpg","article_expanded_image_uid":null,"article_image_caption":"Illustrative map of the location of the stations. (Photo: LTA)","tags":null,"publications":"7","category":null},{"title":"Mr.","date":"2016-07-22 16:57:00","id":547,"author":"1","blurb":"

Work has started on Singapore’s Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) East Coast stretch, Downtown Line 3 Extension (DTL3e) and the East Coast Integrated Depot.

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Work has started on Singapore’s Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) East Coast stretch, Downtown Line 3 Extension (DTL3e) and the East Coast Integrated Depot. When completed, the 13-km East Coast stretch of the TEL will connect commuters living in the eastern parts of Singapore who are not directly served by the rail network currently, such as those in Tanjong Rhu, Marine Parade and Bedok South, to the heart of the city.

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As part of the 43-km long TEL, East Coast residents will also be connected to the north-south corridor. The TEL will strengthen the connectivity and resilience of Singapore’s rail network by providing alternative travel routes for many more commuters on the existing lines. The East Coast stretch will have nine stations, including one interchange station with the DTL3e at Sungei Bedok.

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In addition to the previously announced alignment of the TEL, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is further studying extending the TEL from Sungei Bedok station to the future Changi Airport Terminal 5, and then connecting to the existing Changi Airport MRT station on the East-West Line. With such an extension, commuters would enjoy a direct connection between Changi Airport and the city. If feasible, this extension would be operational together with the opening of the new Terminal 5.

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DTL3e will be 2.2 km long and will consist of two stations. It will improve public transport accessibility to the Changi Business Park and Expo areas. By linking the TEL and DTL, this extension will also improve public transport connectivity in the eastern part of Singapore.

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Engineering challenges\r\n

The East Coast Integrated Depot will stack three train depots together, with a bus depot built next to them. The entire depot will be housed within a single site of 36 ha, thus saving 44 ha of land, or an area of approximately 60 football fields. The integration of four depots is unprecedented. The main train depot building will span over 1 km and consist of 18,000 precast beams, each up to 20 m long and weighing up to 45 t.

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The entire East Coast stretch of the TEL will also be built on reclaimed land. Due to the extremely soft seabed underlying the reclaimed land, deeper diaphragm walls will be built into the soil to ensure the stability of station structures. These walls will be 60 m deep, or extending 20 storeys underground, compared to 25 m which is more typical of walls used for construction on non-reclaimed land.

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In addition, the construction of Tanjong Rhu station will involve the construction of a cut-and-cover tunnel above the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) tunnel. The clearance between the roof of the KPE tunnel and the base of the cut-and-cover tunnel will only be about 40 cm. Steel sheet piles will be driven into the ground to retain the earth and ensure the stability of both tunnels. In addition, the excavated surface will be stabilised with steel rods to minimise ground movement.

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The East Coast stretch of the TEL will be completed in two stages. The first seven stations from Tanjong Rhu to Bayshore will be ready in 2023, while the remaining two stations, DTL3e and the East Coast Integrated Depot will be completed in 2024. When fully operational, the TEL, including the northern stretch, is expected to serve about 500,000 commuters daily in the initial years, rising to one million commuters daily in the longer term.

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PUB, Singapore’s national water agency and the National Environment Agency of Singapore (NEA), will be calling tenders from this year onwards for the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) Phase 2 and the Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF).

","blurb_image_uid":"2016/07/12/12/04/07/586/Template_website.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"

PUB, Singapore’s national water agency and the National Environment Agency of Singapore (NEA), are set to call tenders from this year onwards for the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) Phase 2 and the Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF) to spearhead the implementation of Singapore’s world-class used water and solid waste management solutions.

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DTSS Phase 2, which includes enhanced deep tunnels with advanced sensing and maintenance features, associated link sewers, Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (TWRP) and integrated NEWater factory, is estimated to cost some S$6.5 billion. With a total treatment capacity of 800,000 cu m per day, TWRP is also believed to be the largest membrane bioreactor facility in the world.

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Currently at the detailed design milestone of the project, PUB said it will be calling for consultancy and construction tenders for the various project components in phases beginning from the Q3 2016. These include professional engineering services for the detailed design of the TWRP and link sewers. Other tenders will cover the design and construction of deep tunnel sewers, associated shafts and manholes.

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IWMF, equipped with advanced technologies, will be able to effectively process various waste streams that include incinerable waste, household recyclables collected under the National Recycling Programme (NRP), source-segregated food waste and dewatered sludge from the TWRP. The IWMF will be designed with an incineration capacity of 5,800 t/day and is estimated to cost S$3.0 billion. According to NEA, it will be calling tender to engage professional engineering services to assist in project management, supervision of the construction works and commissioning of the IWMF. Tenders will also be called to appoint Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractors to design and construct the IWMF.

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One of the highlights of both projects is the co-location of PUB’s TWRP with NEA’s IWMF, which marks Singapore’s first initiative to integrate used water and solid waste treatment processes.

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“As one of the world's most anticipated water infrastructure projects, DTSS Phase 2 continues to harness advanced technologies to enhance Singapore’s used water management system and ensure its water sustainability for generations to come,” said Yong Wei Hin, Director, DTSS Phase 2, PUB. “The co-location of TWRP and IWMF is also the first project of its kind in the world to be planned from ground-up, and is designed to bring about a multitude of synergies harnessing the Water-Energy-Waste Nexus while optimising Singapore’s land-use.”

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A good example of the synergies is the co-digestion of food waste with used water sludge at TWRP to increase the yield of biogas production. Biogas will be utilised at IWMF to improve steam quality and give rise to higher overall plant thermal efficiency. This will increase electricity production and enable IWMF to export more to the Grid while allowing both facilities to be energy self-sufficient.

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In addition, PUB and NEA have unveiled a joint showcase on the opening day of the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) and CleanEnviro Summit Singapore (CESS) 2016. Titled Water-Energy-Waste Nexus: The Singapore Journey, the showcase is a physical representation of the DTSS Phase 2 and the IWMF, and demonstrates Singapore’s vision in integrated solutions designed to solve complex water and environmental sustainability challenges such as limited land space, energy and resource recovery.

","article_image_uid":"2016/07/12/12/04/07/498/dtss_map_draw_col_amd2_7july_To_Upload.jpg","article_expanded_image_uid":null,"article_image_caption":"A map showing the completed DTSS system, with Phase 1 and Phase 2.","tags":null,"publications":"7","category":null},{"title":"Mr.","date":"2016-07-12 10:53:00","id":526,"author":"1","blurb":"

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a contract for the construction of Sungei Bedok station and its associated tunnels to KTC Civil Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd. It is the last of nine major civil contracts for Thomson–East Coast Line (East Coast stretch).

","blurb_image_uid":"2016/07/12/11/00/06/921/Template_website.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) has awarded a contract for the construction of Sungei Bedok station and its associated tunnels to KTC Civil Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd. This contract, totalling approximately S$418 million, is the last of nine major civil contracts for Thomson–East Coast Line (East Coast stretch) (TEL).

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KTC Civil Engineering & Construction is also involved in the construction of Downtown Line 3 (DTL3)’s Tampines station, as well as TEL’s Orchard Boulevard station.

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“With the award of this contract for Sungei Bedok station, LTA has appointed contractors for all the nine stations of the East Coast stretch of TEL, at a total cost of approximately S$2.73 billion. Works will now be in full swing,” said Chew Men Leong, LTA’s chief executive. “Together with the north-south stretch of TEL, the entire 43 km line will add 31 new stations to the existing network. We look forward to the continuous support and understanding of the community, businesses and stakeholders along the line as we work towards delivering the new stations.”

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Sungei Bedok station will be an interchange station connecting TEL with the DTL. When it opens in 2024, commuters on the TEL can enjoy better connectivity to the stations along DTL via this interchange station. By connecting TEL with DTL, the resilience of the rail network in the eastern side of Singapore will be enhanced as commuters have more route options to choose from. This will help redistribute and relieve train loading on the East-West Line (EWL) resulting in more comfortable rides for commuters.

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Sungei Bedok station will be built as a Civil Defence shelter. Together with Bayshore, Bedok South, Marine Parade, Marine Terrace, Siglap, and Tanjong Rhu stations, there are a total of seven Civil Defence shelters along the East Coast stretch of TEL.

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The 13 km East Coast stretch of the TEL will connect commuters living in the eastern parts of Singapore and who are not directly served by the rail network currently, such as those in Tanjong Rhu, Siglap, Marine Parade, Upper East Coast and Bedok South, to the heart of the city. As part of the 43 km long TEL, the East Coast stretch will also connect commuters to the Thomson stretch of the TEL, which serves the north-south corridor. The East Coast stretch will have nine stations, including a station that interchanges with the Downtown Line at Sungei Bedok.

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The East Coast stretch of the TEL will be completed in two stages. The first seven stations from Tanjong Rhu to Bayshore will be ready in 2023, while the remaining two stations will be completed in 2024.

","article_image_uid":"2016/07/12/11/00/06/872/20160617_Artist_impressions_of_stn_AnnexA_1_Upload.jpg","article_expanded_image_uid":null,"article_image_caption":"Interior of Sungei Bedok Station. (Photo: LTA)","tags":null,"publications":"7","category":null},{"title":"Mr.","date":"2016-07-11 17:29:00","id":525,"author":"1","blurb":"

IES recently announced the 50 winning projects of the Engineering Feats @ IES-SG50 competition, which were identified by the public as having made the greatest impact to Singapore’s economic, infrastructural and societal development since 1965.

","blurb_image_uid":"2016/07/11/17/31/04/58/Template_website.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"

The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) recently announced the 50 winning projects of the Engineering Feats @ IES-SG50 competition, which were identified by the public as having made the greatest impact to Singapore’s economic, infrastructural and societal development since 1965.

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Among them include the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS), ABC Waters at Kallang River, ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands, Downtown Line Bugis Station, Jurong Rock Caverns (JRC) and Gardens by the Bay, to name a few. All of the projects, including their description, can be found here.

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IES launched the Engineering Feats @ IES-SG50 competition in January 2015 to commemorate Singapore’s 50th birthday in 2015 and IES’ 50th anniversary in 2016. These winning projects received the highest number of public votes cast from 1 March to 30 May 2016 for 113 shortlisted projects.

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Comprising 34 public sector projects and 16 private sector projects, the top 50 winners will go down in history as the most remarkable engineering achievements in various industry sectors including infrastructure, marine, transport, aerospace, defence and security, manufacturing, infocommunications and leisure.

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The awards to honour the 50 engineering achievements were presented during IES’ 50th anniversary celebration held at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gracing the event as the guest of honour.

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The event also saw Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and NTUC Secretary-General, present the IES-SG50 Golden Jubilee Scholarships to 50 financially-needy students from local polytechnics and universities from across 15 different engineering disciplines, to help them realise their dreams to become engineers.

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IES received over S$300,000 in donation from 93 organisations and individuals thus far towards the scholarship fund and applications from more than 400 students. About 92 percent of the scholarships were given to students from families with less than S$5,000 household income.

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Furthermore at the event, IES also conferred Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources with the IES Honorary Fellow title in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of the engineering profession and to the nation at the highest level in the areas of environment and water resources planning.

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In October 2015, Mr Masagos was appointed the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and since then, he has been leading the ministry to create a more liveable and sustainable future for Singaporeans through the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint (SSB). He plays a key role at the national level in ensuring long-term water sustainability through planning and investing ahead of demand while encouraging water conservation and efficient water use, focusing on co-location of infrastructure for efficient waste-energy management, and actively working to promote regional cooperation to overcome transboundary haze pollution.

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To spur engineering students who have achieved exceptional academic results to continue to pursue engineering as a course of study or as a career, IES also presented the IES-Yayasan Mendaki Scholarships to Muhammad Firrian Bin Azman of Ngee Ann Polytechnic and Sheik Mohamed Anees s/o Shiek Abdul Farook of Nanyang Technological University.

","article_image_uid":"2016/07/11/17/31/04/218/Deep_Tunnel_Sewerage_System_DTSS_Upload.jpg","article_expanded_image_uid":null,"article_image_caption":"Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) is among the 50 winning projects.","tags":null,"publications":"7","category":null},{"title":"Mr.","date":"2016-07-11 14:04:00","id":523,"author":"1","blurb":"

Zureli is a new global online marketplace for green building products, services and technology. It helps the industry to achieve sustainability goals, as well as creating a community focusing on the sector.

","blurb_image_uid":"2016/07/11/14/10/52/748/Template_website.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"

Zureli is a new global online marketplace for green building products, services and technology. It connects members of the building and construction industry, providing them with ideas and information to help them achieve sustainability goals, as well as creating a community focusing on the sector.

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“Zureli’s mission is to create a one-stop shop where products, services and technology that have a positive impact on buildings, society and the environment in particular, are available. We want to champion the green building movement and create a commercial focal point for it,” said Seb Worthington, CEO of Zureli.

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Founded in December 2015 in Singapore, Zureli aims to bring together developers, architects, engineers, contractors, business owners, consultants and others who operate in the green building sector. Visitors to the website will be able to browse through a broad range of relevant products and services covering building, renewable energy, construction and other vertical markets as the platform develops. There is also a social networking function on the site as well as industry news, peer-to-peer reviews and more.

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Users subscribe to Zureli’s website for a modest fee that is tiered depending on a particular user’s needs. Subscribers also make a green contribution of their own, with Zureli pledging to plant up to five trees per month depending on a subscriber’s selected package. This is managed through leading environmental organisation, Trees for the Future. For a limited time, however, as part of Zureli’s promotional launch, users can register for a free account, which will allow them to list a product or service at no cost for the first three months.

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“In light of recent environmental initiatives – both proposed and implemented – and landmark events such as the UN Paris Agreement, the transition to a low carbon economy is unstoppable. We see an irrepressible shift towards green building practices and it is also an exciting opportunity to engage with this rapidly growing and very important industry,” said Cash van Halder, COO of Zureli.

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For more information: http://www.zureli.com\r\n

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The length of time needed to resolve a construction dispute in Asia increased to an average of 19.5 months, according to a recent report that was released by Arcadis. This is four months longer than the global average of 15.5 months.

","blurb_image_uid":"2016/07/11/12/18/27/610/Template_website.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"

The length of time needed to resolve a construction dispute in Asia increased to an average of 19.5 months, according to the 'Global Construction Disputes: Don’t get left behind' report that was recently released by Arcadis. Impacting parties involved in a dispute and the overall construction industry, this figure is four months longer than the global average of 15.5 months.

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While in 2015 the industry has seen an overall reduction in the value of construction disputes in Asia, disputes here are still approximately 45 percent higher than the global average of US$46 million. The value of disputes relating to global construction projects in Asia has dropped from US$85.6 to US$67 million in 2015. The report found that the value of construction disputes was the highest in the Middle East at US$82 million, followed by Asia.

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This year’s report is Arcadis’ sixth annual study into the duration, value, common causes and methods of resolution of construction disputes across the globe. This research was conducted by the Arcadis Contract Solutions experts and is based on construction disputes handled by the team during 2015.

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The study reveals that in 2015 there were some changes in the reasons behind disputes in Asia compared to the previous years. A failure to properly administer the contract moved up from second in last year’s report to first in 2015. The study found that the most common causes of construction disputes related to the administration of contracts. The top three causes were: failure to properly administer the contract; failure to make interim awards on extensions of time and compensation; and poorly drafted or incomplete and unsubstantiated claims.

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Where a dispute occurred, Joint Ventures (JVs) were more likely to be behind the cause in Asia, with a JV–related difference the cause in 41.4 percent of all cases, compared with a global average of 25.5 percent. The three most common methods of Alternative Dispute Resolution that were used during 2015 in Asia were: party-to-party negotiation, arbitration and mediation.

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From a market perspective, Arcadis believes that although there is a construction slowdown, China, Hong Kong and Singapore markets are now facing challenges that are presented by large-scale infrastructure projects nearing completion. To address both historic and current issues, several regulatory changes have been implemented across the region. Hong Kong introduced the Rights of Third Parties Ordinance on 1 January 2016, and the Security of Payment is due in 2017. Singapore is currently in consultation on a Mediation Bill, which looks to strengthen the overall framework for the use of mediation.

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“We are expecting to see the number of disputes we will be dealing with in the coming year to increase. Given the current economic conditions, stakes are high for both parties and no one is looking to engage in long and protracted disputes; thus we are likely to see a further increase in the use of ad hoc forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the region. With that said, perhaps the best course of action is to seek to resolve issues before they become a formal dispute, instead of passively looking at ways to address issues that arise on the projects,” said Philip Moss, Arcadis’ head of Contract Solutions, Asia.

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“The construction industry faced head winds, particularly with commodity and currency volatility,” added Mike Allen, Arcadis’ global leader of Contract Solutions. “It is evident that the natural resources market is now operating against a very different economic backdrop. The business case assumptions that were likely used to endorse projects and programmes have therefore changed, presenting a huge challenge to the project and entity risk profiles.”

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The full report is available here.\r\n

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SOUTHEAST ASIA CONSTRUCTION Archive Jul 2016