A Facebook user Kheng Hui Yeo shared the picture of a very wet floor in Hillview MRT station of the Downtown Line. The station was opened on 27 December 2015. Kheng Hui said that the problem started in April 2016, barely four months after the station opened, and that similar problem was common in other Downtown Line stations such as Botanic Gardens.
In 2009, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) awarded contract C913 valued at $431 million for the Downtown Line Stage 2 (DTL2) project to GS Engineering & Construction Corp. Contract 913 is for the design and construction of the Hillview MRT station as well as the Cashew stations and tunnels. Both Hillview and Cashew stations also double up as Civil Defence shelters.
GS Engineering & Construction Corp (GS) is a Korean company and has the experience of undertaking undertaking several subway lines and train depot projects in South Korea.
GS is the same company which the Government took to task in December 2015 for failing to complete the Ng Teng Fong Hospital on time. GS blamed the shortage of skilled manpower here, as well as disruptions in the Thai factory making the panels for the hospital’s facade, for delaying the opening of the hospital by over a year. The Government sought liquidated damages worth millions of dollars for its inability to complete the project on time.
In March 2016 however, the Government awarded a contract worth $1.99 billion to build a four-in-one rail and bus depot to GS.
In 2014, GS faced a credibility crisis in South Korea after becoming entangled in a series of wrongdoings, including allegedly violating stock market rules and under reporting its poor performance. In June 2015 a payment dispute of over $1.5 million GS had with Fujitec Singapore Corp was taken to Court.
