BREACH OF WATER PROOFING CONTRACT ON THE CENTRAL EXPRESSWAY

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Communications why the Land Transport Authority withdrew the suit against the contractors who were alleged to have breached water proofing specifications for the Central Expressway and what were the rectifications recommended by the civil and structural engineering consultants engaged to study the tunnel's leakage problem.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: The suit which the Member mentioned was started by the CTE tunnel contractor when they decided to file claims under a number of heads, including alignment, drainage, planning permission, and so on. To protect the Government's interest, the PWD who was administering the project then, counter-claimed for liquidated and ascertained damages and defective work, which included the water leakage. How this leakage rate was measured, and whether our specification was breached, were points of contention in court. The suit was eventually settled out of court.

Last year, the LTA engaged a consultant to look into rectifying the leakage. The consultant's report is being studied and the officials will be making their recommendations shortly.