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Anti-flooding moves: Works to raise Orchard Road under way
By Amresh Gunasingham
ROADWORKS to raise a 1.4km stretch of Orchard Road from Orchard Parade Hotel to Cairnhill are under way, a move the authorities hope will prevent a repeat of damaging floods in the area in June.
The $26 million project, which was announced in October, is being done in phases to minimise inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians.
The first area of focus was a 500m stretch of roadside kerbs between Tang Plaza and Delfi Orchard shopping centre. This was raised earlier this month by up to 50cm as a precursor to raising the roads along the same stretch, said national water agency PUB.
The rest of the project, which will involve raising the roads by up to 30cm, will be completed by the end of next year, said a PUB spokesman in response to queries.
Engineers have been working through the night, between midnight and 5am, when there is less traffic.
By raising the road, the PUB hopes to prevent a repeat of floods in the area in June, when heavy rain caused water to gush into drains, which then overflowed and flooded the surrounding buildings.
One of the worst affected places then was the Liat Towers building.
Yesterday, the management of the building tested a $200,000 barrier it had installed as part of anti-flooding measures.
Earlier this year, four basement-level shops there were inundated with flood waters after a heavy downpour caused the adjoining Stamford Canal to overflow. It caused an estimated $10 million in damage along the premier shopping belt.
The flood barrier, which is made up of 19 slabs of aluminium and stainless steel, is 90cm high and stretches more than 40m around the building, forming a seemingly impermeable barrier should flood waters gush in from the main road.
The barrier pops up at the push of a button. It will be activated if the PUB sends out a warning, via SMS, once sensors installed along drains in the area detect a water level high enough to flood the building's basement carpark.
Architect Wu Chee Yiun, who was consulted on the project, said a cheaper alternative would have involved workers installing metal rods and sheets to form a similar barrier when it floods.
But this was ruled out as it would require too much manpower.
By Amresh Gunasingham
ROADWORKS to raise a 1.4km stretch of Orchard Road from Orchard Parade Hotel to Cairnhill are under way, a move the authorities hope will prevent a repeat of damaging floods in the area in June.
The $26 million project, which was announced in October, is being done in phases to minimise inconvenience to motorists and pedestrians.
The first area of focus was a 500m stretch of roadside kerbs between Tang Plaza and Delfi Orchard shopping centre. This was raised earlier this month by up to 50cm as a precursor to raising the roads along the same stretch, said national water agency PUB.
The rest of the project, which will involve raising the roads by up to 30cm, will be completed by the end of next year, said a PUB spokesman in response to queries.
Engineers have been working through the night, between midnight and 5am, when there is less traffic.
By raising the road, the PUB hopes to prevent a repeat of floods in the area in June, when heavy rain caused water to gush into drains, which then overflowed and flooded the surrounding buildings.
One of the worst affected places then was the Liat Towers building.
Yesterday, the management of the building tested a $200,000 barrier it had installed as part of anti-flooding measures.
Earlier this year, four basement-level shops there were inundated with flood waters after a heavy downpour caused the adjoining Stamford Canal to overflow. It caused an estimated $10 million in damage along the premier shopping belt.
The flood barrier, which is made up of 19 slabs of aluminium and stainless steel, is 90cm high and stretches more than 40m around the building, forming a seemingly impermeable barrier should flood waters gush in from the main road.
The barrier pops up at the push of a button. It will be activated if the PUB sends out a warning, via SMS, once sensors installed along drains in the area detect a water level high enough to flood the building's basement carpark.
Architect Wu Chee Yiun, who was consulted on the project, said a cheaper alternative would have involved workers installing metal rods and sheets to form a similar barrier when it floods.
But this was ruled out as it would require too much manpower.
