SINGAPORE: PIE viaduct collapse: Plans not checked
PIE viaduct collapse: Engineering consultancy director admits not checking detailed plans
SINGAPORE – The managing director of an engineering consultancy failed to check the detailed structural plans and design calculations of a construction project, leading to the fatal July 2017 collapse at a viaduct linking the Tampines Expressway (TPE) to the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE).
Malaysian engineer Leong Sow Hon, 61, from Calibre Consulting Singapore, who was the accredited checker for the project, pleaded guilty on Monday (June 24) to an offence under the Building Control Act.
He is the first person involved in the tragedy to plead guilty to the offence of failing to check the detailed structural plans and design calculations of the viaduct construction works in accordance with regulations.
Leong admitted that he did not evaluate, analyse or review the structural design and failed to perform original calculations for all permanent corbels, which are structural elements supporting the ends of flyovers.
Another charge of falsely certifying that he had carried out the checks was taken into consideration.
The cases involving the main contractor, Or Kim Peow Contractors, and four other men allegedly linked to the incident are still pending.
They are: the qualified person from subcontractor CPG Consultants, Robert Arianto Tjandra, 46; and, from Or Kim Peow Contractors, project engineer Wong Kiew Hai, 31, project director Allen Yee, 49, and group managing director Or Toh Wat, 51.
The collapse resulted in the death of Chinese worker Chen Yinchuan, 31, while 10 others were injured.
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