1.

Negative Impact
Singapores urban development has changed Singapore to a first-world
country; known as a financial hub, tall infrastructures with world-class
transport system integrated. Singapore has been an attractive country
for foreigners to come over for better job opportunities and higher
standard of living. From another perspective, Singapore with a
workforce-focused economy has to open up doors to foreigners to
attract foreign investments and achieve greater economic growth and
productivity. White Paper states that the entire population will grow to
6.9 million by 2030. In order to accommodate this rapid growth of
population, one of many things which we have to do is to further
expand our transportation network and Downtown Line is part of the
master plan.

Land is a scarce resource in Singapore. Hence urban planning has

resulted in compact high density developments and urban living. When
construction is going to take place in these high density areas, it has an
adverse negative impact on the construction processes in Singapore.

In the photograph, we have identified the impact as the pre-

construction work required before actual construction takes place to
ensure absolute site occupational and environmental safety to the
passers-by and the entire neighborhood. However this has caused
additional inconvenience to the neighborhood. Three pre-construction
work are being discussed further below:

a. Movement of Bus stop/Temporary Bus stop

The surrounding areas around the construction place were
affected as land was needed to be cleared for the built up of
Downtown line. Hence, we can see from the picture that there
was a temporary shifting of the bus stop. The new temporary
bus stop was moved approximately 10 meters away from the
usual bus stop. This action had caused:
As the bus stop were shifted away from the HDB flats, bus
commuters have to walk a longer distance to the bus stop,
causing inconvenience, and extra time taken.
 Some adjustments have been made to the road to
accommodate the process of the construction. Drivers are
affected as they have to make adjustments to their driving
routes to get to their destination. Additionally, drivers may
endanger themselves and other drivers on the road due to
unfamiliarity of the road changes.

b. Pedestrians walkway
This is a complementary action done due to the shifting of bus
stop. A sheltered walkway has been built to create convenience
for the public. However, there are several limitations of the
walkway:
As the pathway is narrow and highly constrained,
during peak hours, it may causes danger and
inconvenience to the residents, particularly the elderly
and the disabled.
The temporary shelter roof, constructed with pieces of
metal and aluminum bars, is permissible to rainwater.
Rainwater are able to leak through the joints and sides
of the shelter, resulting in accumulation of puddles of
water on the uneven ground along the pathway.
Rainwater may also accumulate on top of the
shelter, if the aluminum bars are unable to withstand the
load, the shelter may topple. These may cause
disastrous hazard to the pedestrians.

c. Setting up of barriers and barricades

Being one of the first world countries, Singapore has been known
as a clean and green country. Hence, its a top priority for the
contractor to minimize the amount of exposure to any pollution
and even hazards due to the construction, to the public. Safety
barriers as well as dust trapping nets have been set up to reduce
the negative impact on the residents living around the area, to a
minimum level. The main objectives of having barriers and
barricades are:
To prevent public from entering into the construction site
To have a one-way in and out safety gears checkpoint
 To reduce exposure of dust particles emitted during the
construction work, to the residents staying on the lower
levels of the residential blocks
To increase the awareness of public that there is an
ongoing construction

As the construction is taking place in these high density areas,

shifting of the bus stop has to be done, so that the bus passengers
are at a distant away from the ongoing construction while waiting
for buses to arrive, to avoid direct exposure to any possible air
pollution and hazards caused by the ongoing construction. A
temporary shelter also has to be constructed for the temporary bus
stop, to shelter the pedestrians from the rain. Barriers and
barricades have to be set up to ensure basic site safety standards.
These safety precautions made, caused by urban development,
have incurred an additional cost, effort and time for the developer
and contractor.

Besides pre-construction processes, construction in densely

development areas brought about by urban developments have also
caused a change in the during-construction period which is the
working hours of the construction.

Working days and hours

According to National Environment Agency, construction work at a
site may proceed at any time of the day as long as the noise levels
does not exceed the maximum noise levels permitted.

Types of affected 7am - 7pm 7pm - 10pm 10pm - 7am

buildings

(a) Hospital, 60 dBA 50 dBA

schools, institutions (Leq* 12 hrs) (Leq 12 hrs)
of higher
learning, homes for
aged sick, etc 75 dBA 55 dBA
(Leq 5 mins) (Leq 5 mins)

(b) Residential 75 dBA 65 dBA 55 dBA

buildings located (Leq 12 hrs) (Leq 1 hr) (Leq 1 hr)
less than
150m from the
construction site

90 dBA 70 dBA 55 dBA

(Leq 5 mins) (Leq 5 mins) (Leq 5 mins)

(c) Buildings other 75 dBA 65 dBA

than those in (a) (Leq 12 hrs) (Leq 12 hrs)
and (b)
above

90 dBA 70 dBA
(Leq 5 mins) (Leq 5 mins)

From the table, we can see that there is a lower maximum noise
level after 7pm and 10pm relative to the types of affected buildings
from Mondays to Saturdays. If the noise level of the construction
site exceeds the maximum noise level stated, construction work has
to be stopped, and the working hours has to be fixed at 7am-7pm.
No work is allowed for construction sites located within 150m away
from residential premises and noise sensitive premises from 10pm
on Saturday/eve of Public Holiday to 7am on the following
Monday /day after the Public Holiday. These affected buildings are
results of urban planning and development, occupiers of these
buildings will be affected by noise pollution produced by the
construction site, hence these maximum noise levels are set upon
to protect the public from the noise pollution.

We are missing pictures and citations!!!!!