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SINGAPORE : National water agency PUB said road-raising works, a flood-preventive measure, for Orchard Road are eight per cent completed.

It added that it is still on track to meet the completion deadline in June.

It is business as usual along Orchard Road in the daytime, but when the shopping district goes to sleep, roadworks begin.

Contractors have been asked to work from midnight to 6 am to minimise disruptions to traffic.

On top of that, works were halted during the festive periods.

Senior director of PUB, Yap Kheng Guan, said: “Work is planned in a way that even in those limited hours that we have, if we have to forgo those hours to make sure that the atmosphere is not in any way diluted, we will do so.

“And after Chinese New Year, if there are any special events, we will then make way for these events to take place, even if it means sacrificing those working hours.”

The works along the 1.4-kilometre stretch of Orchard Road are split into three stages.

Firstly, kerbs along the roads have to be raised – and they have already been 90 per cent completed.

Secondly, the roads have to be raised by 10 centimetres initially. And finally, the roads will be layered by another 20 centimetres in height.

As of now, only half of Scotts Road has been completed – that is eight per cent of the project.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, touring the stretch of road, gave a progress update.

He said: “The kerb-raising – we are almost there, close to 90 per cent. Road-raising – we’ve done only about eight per cent. But the most important thing, I think, is that we’ve done this very well in terms of the overall coordination, both with the other users of the road and the business association.

“By all accounts, we’re on track to finish the project by June this year. This is a very important part of our work to ensure the resilience of Orchard Road will be increased towards the kind of rainfall we saw last June.”

Dr Yaacob added that he has not heard any complaints from the public or tenants regarding the construction.

But there was one initial concern raised by building owners – that the raised roads would mean they would have to adjust the height of their building entrances as well.

But the executive director of the Orchard Road Business Association, Steven Goh, said that problem has been addressed.

He added: “I think with the road-raising works, there will be some interfacing with the car park entrances into the buildings. And also they will be affecting some of the pavement areas as well.

“So you need to work with the individual stakeholders because the level of the pavement is different from building to building. So we are able to address that individually.”

The popular shopping district was badly hit by floods last year, and the project started in November as a preventive measure.

– CNA/al