LTA seeks $500 million in claims against bankrupt contractor

The Straits Times reported that The Austrian builder, Alpine Bau, was working on the King Albert Park, Sixth Avenue and Tan Kah Kee stations of Downtown Line 2 when it filed for insolvency in June 2013.

Despite having appointed two other builders - Australia's McConnell Dowell and Korea's SK E&C - to take over Alpine's contracts, and having them work round the clock, the LTA indicated that completion of the line will be delayed by at least three months.

It would not say how much it was trying to recoup, but The Straits Times understands that claims filed with Stone Forest stand at just over $200 million.

Another claim, filed with Austrian lawyer Ulla Reisch, a special administrator for the liquidation of the parent company, comes up to around $298 million.

Mr. Abuthahir Abdul Gafoor, Executive Director of Stone Forest, said it has received claims totalling about $300 million in Singapore.

Mr. Gafoor said that in terms of payouts, preferential creditors such as company employees, the Central Provident Fund and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore will have priority.

Observers said the LTA is likely to be saddled with a bigger bill for the two Alpine contracts. It awarded them to the Austrian group in 2009 for $670.7 million.

Soon after the builder filed for insolvency, the LTA re-awarded the uncompleted projects to the two new contractors for $476 million.
Meanwhile, construction work at the affected stretch is going flat out. Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said the line will open in the first quarter of next year.