If you pass the retail center located in Tai Seng, you will notice a construction site that took control of a good part of the area. What is going on over here? Well, if you haven’t heard about it just yet, the project is to build an underpass that will allow people to access Paya Lebar faster, easier, and safer.
Although things are evolving rather fast on this construction site, the finished station is expected to be ready on in the H2 of the year. The project is unrolled by Mapletree, a private developer, and it is going to link the MRT Station at Tai Seng with the busy commercial hub at Paya Lebar through a walkway that is in the underground. Thus, people will be able to safely reach the MRT station, without have to face the traffic in the busy area.
The truth is that the Tai Seng station is the only MRT station, at least on the eastern part of the Circle Line that cannot offer an underground walkway to the people that use the station. The people that have to reach their work offices in the area, or choose to dine at Paya Lebar, have two options to reach their destination. They’ll have to walk approximately 500 m to reach a nearby junction, which is signalized and made appropriate for pedestrians or to get over to the other side by walking on the overhead bridge. When you have a busy schedule, walking so much means minutes lost, just trying to reach a safe way that will enable you to get through the traffic.
When developer, Mapletree was awarded the tender, JTC Corporation formulated a land sale requirement that included the development of the underground pass, placed next to the new 18 Tai Seng station. Practically, the new underground link will link the MRT station which is at the second basement, to the retail center of 18 Tai Seng at the first basement. The connection will be made through a micro-tunneling process, also known as a pipe-jacking technique, knowing down a wall of the station to make the final connection. A representative of Mapletree stated that the mission of the company is to provide a much-improved retail experience and better connectivity for pedestrians, regardless of weather. The communities from Paya Lebar and MacPherson will both beneficiate from this project, as the people will enjoy a brand new escalator and lift in the new future. How much all of this cost? The developing company did not want to make the numbers public.
The work on this new improvement to the Tai Seng station started in March 2015, so they are going on for a while. At the moment, we can say that the constructions are on their last 100 meters from being finished. Many people that work in the area are extremely pleased by the news that the underground walkway will soon be finished. They have been hoping for quite a while for this to happen, being disappointed in several occasions by rumors stating that such a project will start in the area. Soon, they won’t have to walk such a long distance anymore, enjoying a faster and safer access to the location where they work, eat, and unroll various daily activities.
