Thursday, December 27, 2012

Taiwan Holiday Part 3 - Special English Castles



 





The tour that we joined is Taiwan New Experience. Thus, we were brought to some special places in Taiwan where most tour don't visit. The most special place I feel was Oliere. It consists of 4 English Castles, built by a very rich Taiwanese for his wife.

Fernvale Palms Progress - 25 Dec 2012




I was at Fernvale Palms on the same day when the accident happened but I did not sense anything wrong on site though I did notice that no one was working on the project. I thought it was due to Christmas celebration.
I took a closer look at the project progress on that day (as my Mrs. was not with me, thus no one was nagging me to leave fast). I was actually quite delighted to see progress for the B blocks but I was not aware of the accident at that time.

The main contractor has finally completed the painting for the last 3 floors for 432B blocking facing the basketball court. The outstanding painting of this side of the project is the white paint of the lift shaft.

For the other side of the B blocks facing the MSCP, the contractor has progressively painted more facades. In fact, it looked like the painting of 432B is faster than 433B. There were about 5 more facades to be painted.

It is a sad case for worker to fall from height despite MOM’s recent strong effort to advocate safe work at height. Being a public officer project engineer, I also understand the paramount importance of ensuring the safety of workers at site. Hope the main contractor learns from this accident and finishes the project fast and safely.    
To those who are worried about the accident and progress,
(a)  MOM has issued stop work order for plastering works and working at height for the project. However, if the main contractor has experienced project manager on site, I believe he will re-schedule their workers to do those works which do not require harness. This can be lying of tiles, ground level painting work, etc. So, the progress will not completely halt. I doubt the main contractor has finished laying all the shelter, bathrooms, kitchen and service yard tiles. For being selfish, please send all the workers to complete tiles lying for 433B.

(b) Likely, MOM will review the main contractor’s safe work procedure and risk assessment to determine if the contractor has inform the worker about the potential risk for his work and if they have trained the worker sufficiently for him to perform the task. Based on what was reported, it seemed like the worker has a safety harness on but was not hooked on to any anchoring point.

I was searching online about HDB’s work procedure for handing over the flat to the owners. Based on what I have gathered online, HDB will issue a letter to owners about 2 months before project completion to inform the owners about the good news. Next, they will issue the HLE application letter to owners requesting them to apply for HLE (if necessary). Upon approval, they will send them the approved HLE letter. The last phase will be BCA granting the TOP. Normally, HDB will start issuing the keys 1 week after BCA awards the TOP, pretty fast right! Another thing is that HDB will update the website, informing the exact month of probable completion date when the date draws nearer.
Anyway, this is only what I have gathered online, may not be accurate. For whoever who read our blog and is aware of HDB’s work procedure, please share with us.  

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Taiwan Holiday Part 2

The well known papaya milk at Liu He Night Market with Ma Ying Jiu's support.

To try at Liu He:
(a) Papaya milk (with Taiwan President board)
(b) Gaint fried squid






The famous Shilin Night Market. It has shifted to a new location with most food stalls at B1 level.



Taiwan signature building - Taipei 101


Taiwan December Holiday Part 1

Dear and I went for Taiwan holiday early December. It took me a much longer time to sort out the photos, thus for this late post.


Good food at Feng Jia Night Market. According to the tour guide, this is one of the best night market in Taiwan, selling food, shoes, bags and shirts.

To try at Feng Jia:
(a) Da Chang Bao Xiao Chang
(b) Jumbo stinky dou fu
(c) Sweet potato balls.






The famous Taiwan Lu Rou Fan at Jiu Fen.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Fernvale Palms Progress - 5 Dec 2012

 
 
All roofs are up for 433B and 432B. Hope the progress speeds up.

Sengkang West Road and SBS Bus 50


A new route leading from Yio Chu Kang to the Tampines Expressway (TPE) will be available in three years' time. The route, Sengkang West Road, will offer an option to the narrow Jalan Kayu road, with three lanes in each direction. Motorists have been reported as looking forward to the construction of the route. The new road will start at where Yio Chu Kang Road and Jalan Kayu currently intersect. It will then cut through parts of Seletar West Farmway before joining the TPE. As a result, 13 tenants will have to leave the Farmway to make way for the project. Sengkang West Road will also provide access across the TPE to the upcoming Seletar Aerospace Park.

Changes include:
- Jalan Kayu will end at Sengkang West Avenue, which will be extended to coincide with Sengkang West Road, it said.
- Fernvale Road will be re-routed to join Sengkang West Road.
- a segment of Yio Chu Kang Road between the Central Expressway and Jalan Kayu will be widened to three lanes in each direction, up from the existing two.

But the stretch of Jalan Kayu with shop houses and eateries will not be affected

There is also a new bus service 50 which will run from Punggol to Sengkang and through Sengkang west way to Ang Mo Kio which will benefit us. I have plotted out the bus route around Palms as below.