Consignment of land sand from source outside Indonesia arrives in S'pore

29 January 2007 (CNA)

SINGAPORE: The first consignment of land sand from a source outside of Indonesia arrived in Singapore's Jurong Port on Monday.

This followed efforts by the Housing and Development Board to diversify its supply of basic construction materials by procuring land sand from regional sources other than Indonesia.

The Building and Construction Authority is working with land sand importers on this.

The government will also be releasing sand from its stockpile to cushion any transitional disruption to its supply - all this with the aim of helping the industry cope with the sudden announcement on sand export ban by Indonesia last week.

BCA says it will be briefing key stakeholders on the details of the stockpile release over the next few days.

It is also advising the industry to adopt alternative construction materials to reduce the need for land sand. - CNA /dt