Braddell Rd project hits bump as work comes to a halt

A $29 MILLION project to widen Braddell Road has ground to a halt, with yet another contractor said to be facing financial problems.

Home-grown Hexagroup clinched the contract to widen the stretch of Braddell Road between Toa Payoh Lorong 1 and the Braddell Flyover from dual-three lanes to dual-five lanes in late 2012.

The project includes building a new flyover to allow right-turning traffic from Toa Payoh Lorong 6 to connect directly with the Braddell Underpass (towards Paya Lebar). This is so that there is no conflict with traffic heading for the Central Expressway.

Junctions at Toa Payoh Lorongs 1 and 6, and Lorongs 1 and 4 will be improved as part of the project.

With no sign of work for more than two weeks now, the project may not be completed by the year end as targeted.

Hexagroup could not be reached for comment despite several attempts.

Calls to director and shareholder Lim Hong Leong's home number were also unanswered.

The 18-year-old company posted an after-tax loss of $4.6 million in 2007, according to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra).

That was down from a profit of $50.1 million in 2006. It did not make further profit-and-loss statements to Acra after 2007.

According to the Building and Construction Authority, the firm was authorised to bid for civil contracts of up to $40 million as of last year.

It is unclear what financial straits it is in, but sources said it has to do with cash flow.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said works on the project have "slowed down since December 2014". "LTA is following up with the main contractor, Hexagroup Pte Ltd, on various options to progress with the works."

The Straits Times understands that another contractor is likely to be roped in to complete the job.

This would be the second time in two years that the LTA has had to do this.

In mid-2013, Austria's Alpine Bau, which was building three stations on Downtown Line 2, filed for insolvency.

McConnell Dowell South East Asia and SK E&C (Singapore) were appointed to take over its job. As a result, the line will open in the first quarter of next year, instead of December this year.

There were other builders which had gone bust since.

South Korea's Samdaiyang Development did so soon after Alpine. The firm was a sub-contractor to Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which was building Downtown Line 3's MacPherson station.

Last year, Ssangyong Engineering & Construction - which was building the Little India and Rochor stations on Downtown Line 2 - was put under court management back home in South Korea.

But the LTA said neither of these affected the progress of the projects.

This article was first published on Jan 20, 2015.
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