SINGAPORE: The origins of the massive boulder that has been a fixture by the sidewalk at the Woodland Ave 9 junction for the past 35 years have finally come to light. In a recent social media post, Singaporean Cheah Kim Huat shared the backstory of this mysterious rock, which has piqued the curiosity of many over the decades.
Taking to Facebook late last month, Mr Cheah detailed the events leading to the boulder’s current resting place. “Sharing this telltale about why this boulder has been lying at Woodland Ave 9 junction for the past 35 years. Yes, I put it there in 1989,” Mr Cheah began, explaining his involvement in a major infrastructure project at the time.
Mr Cheah recounted that his team was contracted to lay a 450mm sewer pipe for the new Woodlands zone. The project required them to install the pipe six meters below road level using a pipe jacking method. However, during the tunneling process, their microtunneling cutting head encountered a significant obstacle: a large boulder.
To overcome this obstruction, Mr Cheah and his team had to dig a rescue pit to remove the boulder. “After backfilling the rescue pit, our tunneling works continued as required in our contract,” he wrote.
The real twist in the story lies in the specifics of the contract under which the work was carried out. According to Cheah, the contract stipulated that the team would only be compensated for removing man-made structures encountered during the tunneling process. Since the boulder was a natural underground formation, it did not qualify for compensation for disposal under the contract terms.
“The reason the boulder is still there is because our contract clearly stated that we would only be compensated if our tunneling machine encountered man-made structures in our jacking path. Since the boulder is a natural underground formation, it is not covered in our contract cost for disposal,” Mr Cheah explained.
As a result, the boulder was left by the roadside where it has remained ever since, becoming an unintended landmark of sorts.
This revelation has answered the long-standing question about the boulder’s presence and has highlighted an interesting aspect of contract stipulations and their practical implications. The Marsiling boulder, once a perplexing anomaly, now serves as a testament to the intricate and sometimes unexpected outcomes of urban development projects.
TISG/