One year after widespread concerns over the safety of trains manufactured in China erupted after SMRT was caught secretly shipping 35 defective China-made train carriages back to China due to cracks in carriage bodies and other parts, the Land Transport Authority has decided to award the contract of building an entire MRT station to a Chinese construction firm.
The contract to construct a 3-level underground station called Cantonment Station is worth S$205 million and has been awarded to China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
The new station will be situated along Keppel Road. Construction for the station, which will be a part of the Circle Line, will begin by the end of this year and is expected to be completed by 2025.
China State Construction is not a newbie to building MRT stations here. It completed constructing Kaki Bukit and Geylang Bahru stations on the Downtown Line 3 recently. The firm is presently working on building Canberra station on the North-South Line, which is likely to open in 2019.
Netizens have greeted the news of China State Construction being awarded another multi-million dollar contract to build another transport hub here with concern:
Danjel Lim:Â Award to the cheapest again ? Are you compromising our safety?
Ken Ng:Â We see rain in mrt station, flood n fire tunnel. We dun want to see tunnel collapse for sure
Zack Akon:Â Scare because China like to cut corners lehh. Their goal is profit first quality comes after that…????
China goals are:
1st) Profit comes first take everything for yourself.
2nd) Speed & Quantity…produce as much as possible in less time
3rd) Quality…look nice can already
Richard Soh:Â Gov never learn.
https://theindependent.sg.sg/smrt-secretly-shipping-35-prc-made-trains-back-to-china-for-repairs/