Stamford Diversion Canal construction to start this year: PUB

Channel NewsAsia 22 May 14;

SINGAPORE: PUB said on Thursday (May 22) that construction work for the first phase of the Stamford Diversion Canal, which covers Orchard Road, will begin in the coming months.

Building of the canal will take place in two phases, with the first phase covering the Tanglin and Kim Seng areas. This will be carried out by Or Kim Peow Contractors at S$50.6 million, the national water agency stated.

A tender for the second phase, which will cover the Grange Road to River Valley Road areas, has been called. The entire canal is expected to be completed in 2017, said PUB.

It added there will be traffic diversions at a stretch of Grange Road at the junction of Orchard Boulevard and River Valley Road off Kim Seng Road. However, diversions will be carefully planned with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to minimise inconvenience and disruption to the public and those working and living in the vicinity, the agency said.

The new two-kilometre-long Stamford Diversion Canal is part of a holistic approach by the PUB to ease the load on the Stamford Canal. Prolonged heavy rains in recent years have resulted in the canal exceeding its capacity, leading to major flooding in various part of the Orchard Road shopping belt.

In addition to the diversion canal, PUB is also building a detention tank near the junction of Tyersall Avenue and Tyersall Road. It has a storage capacity of about 38,000 cubic metres, or 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and will be used to capture excess stormwater from the drains along Holland Road.

Construction for the detention tank began in December 2013, and will be completed in 2016, it said.

Construction of Stamford Diversion Canal to start in Q3
Louisa Tang Today Online 23 May 14;

SINGAPORE — As part of plans to reduce flooding along the busy Orchard Road shopping belt, national water agency PUB will begin construction work on the Stamford Diversion Canal in the third quarter of this year.

The first phase of construction, which costs S$50.6 million, runs through the Tanglin and Kim Seng areas, while a tender has been called for the second phase along Grange Road to River Valley Road.

Construction of the entire 2km-long diversion canal will be completed in 2017. It will divert stormwater away from the upstream section of the Stamford Canal catchment — about one-third of the entire catchment — towards Singapore River, and eventually, into the Marina Reservoir.

“We will also continue to work with the developers and building owners on implementing ‘source measures’ to slow down the flow of stormwater into the public drainage system and ‘receptor measures’ to protect the buildings against floods,” said PUB director of catchment and waterways, Mr Tan Nguan Sen.

Orchard Road was hit by several flash floods between 2010 and 2012. In June 2010, heavy rains flooded shopping malls such as Liat Towers and Lucky Plaza and car park basements, affecting many businesses in the area.

PUB said later that Stamford Canal, the drainage system under Orchard Road, had become choked with debris, causing water to overflow to the surface onto the junction of Orchard Road and Scotts Road.

As work on the diversion canal in the coming months will be carried out close to the Land Transport Authority’s construction sites for the Orchard Boulevard and Great World MRT stations, traffic will be diverted at a stretch of Grange Road at the junction of Orchard Boulevard and at River Valley Road off Kim Seng Road. The roads, however, will remain accessible.

Work on several new drainage improvement projects will also begin in the second half of this year.

The first phase of upgrading of the Siglap Canal, to be completed by 2017, will cover East Coast Parkway to the sea, where the canal will be deepened and widened. The Alexandra Canal Subsidiary Drain “F”, between Tiong Bahru Road and Outram Road, will be upgraded alongside a PUB Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters project, which is expected to be completed in 2016.

Work to start on new anti-flood canal
The Stamford Canal at the junction of the Orchard and Killiney Roads.
Feng Zengkun The Straits Times 23 May 14;

SINGAPORE - Construction of the new Stamford Diversion Canal will start in the coming months and eventually help to reduce the Orchard Road shopping belt's risk of floods.

National water agency PUB said yesterday that work will start on the 2km, underground canal between July and September and is expected to be completed in 2017.

Stretching from Tanglin to the Singapore River, it will divert rainwater away from the existing Stamford Canal, which could not cope with heavy rain in several instances in 2010 and 2011, leading to floods in the Orchard area.

PUB said construction will take place in two phases. The first in the Tanglin and Kim Seng areas will be carried out by Or Kim Peow Contractors and cost $50.6 million. A tender for the second phase from Grange Road to River Valley Road has been called.

The construction will mean traffic diversions at a stretch of Grange Road, but the number of lanes will be maintained.

PUB also said it would work with the Land Transport Authority and "ensure that the noise level is kept within allowable limits at all times". Apart from the diversion canal, an underground detention tank will also be completed in 2016 to store rainwater from Holland Road drains. This will help to further reduce Orchard flood risks. Located near the junction of Tyersall Avenue and Tyersall Road, the tank will have a 38,000 cubic metre storage capacity - equal to about 15 Olympic-size swimming pools. Its construction started in December last year. Orchard Road Business Association executive director Steven Goh said the new tank and canal will be a "sustainable and permanent solution".

In the meantime, at least four properties in the area - Lucky Plaza, Tanglin Mall, Forum the Shopping Mall and Liat Towers - have boosted their flood protection via measures such as flood barriers.

"As the canal construction continues, there may be minor inconveniences, especially where it is near the construction site for the Orchard Boulevard MRT station, but we will give feedback to PUB," said Mr Goh.

PUB has drainage projects under way or set to take place at 170 or so locations islandwide.

Director of catchment and waterways Tan Nguan Sen said the measures will help Singapore cope with more intense rainfall.

"We will also continue to work with developers and building owners to slow down the flow of storm water into the public drainage system and to protect the buildings against floods," he said.