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SINGAPORE: Singapore is changing the way it builds and manages underground utility networks \u2013 a move that could mean fewer road closures, less drilling and smoother journeys for residents in the coming years.<\/p>\n
The new approach by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), first adopted in Tengah New Town, will eventually be extended to major infrastructure projects including new public housing, MRT lines and road networks.<\/p>\n
It combines shared utility ducts, advanced underground mapping and better coordination between government agencies and utility providers to make future maintenance and cable installations easier while reducing road work.<\/p>\n
Beneath Singapore’s roads and housing estates lies a dense network of electrical cables, telecommunications lines, water pipes and other essential utilities.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, each utility owner plans and installs its own underground network.<\/p>\n
When cables need to be repaired or upgraded, roads often have to be dug up again to access them.<\/p>\n
Under the new approach, similar utilities such as electricity and telecommunications cables will instead share utility specific ducts, or underground passages that house cables together.<\/p>\n
Dedicated manholes, built at regular intervals, allow workers to enter the ducts for maintenance or to install new cables without excavating the road above.<\/p>\n
Such ducts have already been implemented in Tengah New Town, where access points are located along roads at intervals of about 200m. Some extend about 3m underground.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE: Singapore is changing the way it builds and manages underground utility networks \u2013 a move that could mean fewer road closures, less drilling and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--31-HORV2--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/07\/13\/utilityduct-1.png?itok=TZB5WAz7","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2923,4981,1445,2562,3924,1197,13804,26430,1451],"class_list":["post-68389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-aims","tag-approach","tag-cut","tag-future","tag-projects","tag-road","tag-underground","tag-utilities","tag-work","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}