NATURE lovers and fitness buffs who frequent MacRitchie Reservoir for leisure activities may have to wait nine months longer before they can get to enjoy some of the new visitor-friendly facilities promised by PUB and the National Parks Board.

The $5-million MacRitchie spruce-up, the first phase of which was slated for completion this month, came to an abrupt stop when its contractor - Wacon Construction and Trading Private Limited - went bust.

According to Mr Moh Wung Hee, Director, Best Sourcing, PUB, construction work had come to a virtual halt two months ago. Mr Moh said PUB has since terminated its contract with the company as 'it failed to make satisfactory progress on the project'.

It was meant to provide MacRitchie with new features such as shower facilities, a specially designated warm-up area and a two-storey carpark that would double the number of lots.

PUB will be calling a new tender this month to find a replacement contractor, and said it aims to complete construction of the carpark by the end of this year.

No details on the targeted completion date for the entire project were given at this time.

When contacted by The Straits Times, Mr Ong Say Kiat, who is the managing director of Wacon Construction, declined to talk about the MacRitchie project. But he blamed rising operation costs as the main reason for his company's financial troubles.

He said: 'My company had to fold because of the price increase in raw materials, especially sand'.

Sighing, Mr Ong added that it was 'a heartache to see the company that he built from scratch' collapse.

He declined to reveal how much debt his company was in, or if there were other projects that were also put on hold. But The Straits Times understands that several companies had already taken legal action against Wacon Construction for slightly over $1 million in monies owed to them this year.

Three other firms are taking Wacon Construction to court for debts amounting to over $83,000.

Back at MacRitchie, some regulars at the nature reserve were disappointed when told of the delay.

Mr Bernd Nordhausen, 46, who jogs at MacRitchie regularly, said he was annoyed as the delay would mean the problem of finding a parking lot, especially on weekends, would have to continue longer than expected.

'A bigger carpark is desperately needed. It's already been about 14 months since the upgrading began, that's just too excessive,' he said.

Another regular jogger, Mr Surinder Singh, 50, said: 'It's a lot of inconvenience, because everyone was looking forward to the facilities, especially the showers and now it's 'Oh! suddenly stop!''.

But Mr Singh added, 'Of course, unforseen circumstances always happen, so hopefully we can expect a quick action from PUB.'