Flooding of MRT tunnels to be addressed in Parliament

SINGAPORE – The flooding incident at Bishan MRT Station last month will take centre stage when Parliament sits on Monday (Nov 6), with Members of Parliament (MPs) filing a slew of questions on the topic for oral and written answers.

A total of 11 MPs, both from the People’s Action Party and the Workers’ Party (WP), have tabled 15 questions for Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

For example, Choa Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad wants to know about the transport ministry’s investigation findings, as well as whether a Committee of Inquiry will be appointed to review the incident.

WP’s Aljunied GRC MP Pritam Singh wants more details about the “deep-seated cultural issues” in SMRT, which the operator’s chief executive Desmond Kuek had called attention to during a press conference on the flooding. Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Liang Eng Hwa also has questions on whether more risks assessments will be done on the entire train system to identify other potential hotspots, and whether more regulatory supervision will be carried out on public transport operators.

On October 7, a heavy downpour had led to Bishan MRT station being flooded, and train services on the North-South Line being shut down for over 20 hours.

Earlier this week, SMRT released the preliminary findings of its internal probe into the incident. The report showed that the crew responsible for the maintenance of the pump system at Bishan MRT Station had signed off and submitted maintenance records for nearly a year, without carrying out the works.

A total of 91 questions for oral answer and 33 questions for written answer have been filed for the Parliament session. During the sitting, the Moneylenders (Amendment) Bill and the Charities (Amendment) Bill will also be introduced, while the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) (Amendment) Bill and Massage Establishments Bill are up for debate.