People in Europe often think of Singapore and Hong Kong in one stroke. Both are small islands with enormous wealth and ambitious, strong leadership. In terms of the construction market, however, the two are very different says Bob Frew, executive director of Aecom Asia. "Hong Kong is a mature market in every sense. The population here is stable, and while there is a demand to construct more housing, I do not expect there will be a corresponding increase in tunnelling work. Hong Kong is already well served by infrastructure, and the population is not as spread around as in Singapore."

Sam McChesney, Down Town Line Two (DTL2) principle project manager at Singapore’s state-owned LTA, says Singapore is a relatively rich country that has developed in a short period over the last 50 years. "It’s a very dynamic – and impressive – place to live and work. It wants to attract people to live here, and to catch up and perhaps overtake Hong Kong as the choice destination for the financial and other major sectors.

"It’s very important to have effective infrastructure to attract the best talent, and Singapore had more of a clean slate to plan and develop key infrastructure than Hong Kong."

Competition and successful contractors

Frew says that there is a great deal of expertise in the Hong Kong design market in particular. "Every major consultant will have an office here. Although occasionally someone comes along and shakes us all up, which is probably healthy. Singapore also has its rolling master plan for infrastructure, while in Hong Kong, things have a habit of changing.

In terms of successful companies, he points to Aecom’s success in the country. "It’s important to adapt to the market and have longevity, an established name and understand client needs – like any other market," he says. Other mentions of successful companies include Mott MacDonald, Arup and Atkins. Frew also highlights the importance of personal contacts in Hong Kong.

"I’ve noticed a change in the types of contractors winning projects in Singapore," says Simon Hoblyn, also DTL2 principle project manager for LTA. "We have been getting more involvement from Korea-based companies. Ssang Yong, GS E&C and SK E&C are all here on DTL2 and are picking up further work. Asian contractors generally tend to bid very aggressively, and are determined to win jobs.

"The typical tendering process is based on a price/quality (safety) system with sealed bids and quality score based on technical proposal, previous experience and safety record. If the price percentage is fixed too high, it can be a problem ensuring quality contractors. This can be a concern, but one that has been handled well on DTL2, where geology is a challenge. We’ve got some good people in and work is done reasonably well and in reasonable time."

McChesney adds that Chinese and local contractors have been winning LTA contracts lately, especially the less complex ones. Previous MRT contracts were more commonly won by Japanese contractors rather than Koreans, who have picked up several DTL2 and DTL3 projects. However the Japanese contractors are now getting back into the Singapore tunnelling market. Alpine from Europe, and McConnell Dowell, John Holland and Leighton from Australia are also active.

"The market here is a fairly competitive one. If you factor too much profit into your tender, you just won’t get the job."

Skilled labour shortages

According to McChesney, workloads have increased but the number of tunnel engineers has not, so they are getting spread thinner. "There are not too many expats coming over. Most existing key tunnel personnel have been here over 10 years."

Not having a fixed pool of skilled workers has made work challenging for the two LTA principle project managers, particularly with the continual training of new teams, as foreign workers are sent back after work completes. "The Kuala Lumpur MRT has started to be a draw on our engineering resource pool," says Hoblyn. "But plans are not based around this – work is not arranged to keep a standing workforce, but is driven by need and the staged master plan.

"Still, I’ve definitely noticed a shortage of everything skilled that you can think of. I’m surprised we don’t see more Europeans here, considering exchange rates and quality of life. Local labour is getting more expensive, and everything is starting to balance out."

Salad days

Expats were coddled in the 1970s and 1980s Frew says. "There were housing, health, and also child education benefits. All of these have been slowly withdrawn, so there is now not much more money for an expat than a local worker. Apart from this, the nature of people in the profession has changed. It is now much more common for a family to have both adults in full time employment. This makes it more complicated to find jobs overseas, as two are required.

"There is also more mobility. More local Hong Kong residents now work overseas, and as a business we also support our other offices more."

Employers and projects

There’s an even split of work between the three major clients (Drainage Services Department, MTR and Highways Agency) in Hong Kong. At least for the moment, according to Frew. "The Drainage Services Department (DSD) has not got a lot still to come out." Frew says, "The MTR is the only major private client, but it is entrusted with a very large amount of government money, in addition to private funding. It’s comparable to High Speed Rail in the UK."

An exciting upcoming project for Hong Kong is the possible Shattin Treatment Works cavern project, which Frew is cautious but hopeful for. In addition, the under-construction Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge Tunnel project is one of the cross-border links, such as XRL, that local tunnellers are particularly excited about.

As for Singapore, the LTA is the largest tunnel client.

McChesney estimates that it accounts for up to 80 per cent of the work, and has been so for the last 16 years. It has commissioned enormous projects in the past, such as the circle line and ongoing DTL works. Still to come, Hoblyn tells Tunnels, are the Thomson Line in four parts, which will require approximately 40 TBMs driving through variable geology beneath sensitive structures on a tight schedule. The Eastern Region Line is planned to follow on, with the alignment still to be announced.

Final thoughts

Looking to the immediate future in the region, "the market is definitely gathering pace," says Hoblyn. "Tunnelling has been steady since the Northeast Line in the late 1990’s, this was followed by the PUB Deep Tunnel Sewerage System and Circle Line in five stages. Then there wasn’t much TBM tunnelling with DTL1, but now we have gained momentum and are busier than ever. Salaries are increasing due to the shortages I mentioned, working conditions are good – safety is up there with the best of them, and the will is here to constantly improve."

McChesney adds, "The government has realised that MRT lines are the way forward to ease traffic congestion. The population is increasing, and demand is rising, so infrastructure for public transport is being put in place to meet this demand. However, it needs to be efficient and economical."

On Hong Kong, Frew says, "All tunnels under construction now require hybrid machines. Around 20 years ago we just stuck a few disc cutters on. We get very few full faces of rock, and where we do, we are more likely to use drill and blast to TBM.

"I expect to see more support for our other offices from Hong Kong. We will win contracts from Hong Kong wherever we can y to and make a good bid".