FACILITIES FOR THE DISABLED AND ELDERLY AT MRT STATIONS

FACILITIES FOR THE DISABLED AND ELDERLY AT MRT STATIONS

5.

Ms Indranee Rajah asked the Minister for Transport what steps is LTA taking to ensure that the retrofitting works for facilities for the disabled and elderly at the 10 MRT stations (including the Newton and Orchard stations), which have been delayed due to the contractor's financial difficulties, are completed as soon as possible.

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: The contract to retrofit 11 underground MRT stations (including Newton and Orchard MRT Stations) with facilities for the disabled and the elderly was awarded to Hua Kok Realty (Pte) Ltd in October 2002. It was scheduled to be completed by third quarter 2005.

To-date, the retrofitting works at Toa Payoh station have been completed. Unfortunately, due to the financial difficulties encountered by the contractor, upgrading works at the remaining 10 stations have stopped since 31st May 2004 . About 35% of the works have been completed at these stations.

The contractor is currently in discussion with a few other contractors to novate the contract in order to minimise disruption to the works and to ensure that the project can be completed as soon as possible.

If novation is not successful, the contract will be terminated and a new tender will be called. LTA is monitoring the situation closely. LTA is concurrently preparing for the re-tender process to ensure that it can be carried out quickly and smoothly should it be necessary. The project schedule will be reviewed after the tender has been awarded. LTA estimates that a new tender is likely to delay the completion of the project to end 2006.

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