Government to release concreting sand from stock pile from Feb 1

By Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia
31 January 2007 1541 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government will release concreting sand from its stockpile from Thursday to make up for any immediate shortfall in supply as a result of Indonesia's ban on all land sand exports.

The Building and Construction Authority says this will help stabilise sand supply and prices over the next few months, while the industry makes the necessary adjustments.

However, it expects the price of sand to rise due to higher transportation costs involved in shipping sand from distant sources.

BCA has called on developers to work out a cost-sharing arrangement with contractors and concrete suppliers to cope with the increase.

Government agencies will also take the lead to bear part of the increase in the cost of sand for its existing projects. - CNA /dt