SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has appointed AECOM Singapore to conduct an advanced engineering study for Singapore stretch of the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail (HSR) infrastructure, it announced on Wednesday (Feb 8).

The US engineering firm will provide architectural, civil, electrical, mechanical and other design services required for the Jurong East terminus, tunnels and the bridge across the Straits of Johor.

It has also appointed specialist consultants to oversee different parts of the study: 

(Source: LTA)

According to documents on LTA’s website, the tender was awarded at a price of S$26.2 million. Five other firms participated in the tender, which was called last August. The estimated delivery date for the contract is Oct 1, 2018, according to Government procurement portal GeBiz.

The other tender proposals received were from Arup Singapore, Meinhardt (Singapore), Mott MacDonald Singapore, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Surbana Jurong Infrastructure. 

Prices of tenders received for the project. (Source: LTA)

LTA said that AECOM and its team of consultants were selected through a “highly competitive tender process”.

“They bring extensive experience in HSR projects internationally, including in the planning and design of the Beijing South HSR Station in China, the High Speed 2 railway in the United Kingdom, and the West Kowloon Terminus for the Express Rail Link in Hong Kong,” the agency said in a statement.

“AECOM Singapore has a strong track record in Singapore as well, having worked with LTA to design the Circle Line, Downtown Line, Thomson-East Coast Line and the Tuas West Extension. AECOM Singapore is also currently carrying out an engineering consultancy study for the Rapid Transit System Link between Singapore and Johor Baru,” it added.

The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR aims to facilitate seamless travel between the two capital cities. The 350-km line, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2026, will have eight stations, cutting travel time between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to 90 minutes.

SINGAPORE: A total of 4,844 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized at Woodlands Checkpoint from a truck delivering a consignment of cooking oil, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said on Wednesday (Feb 8). 

The Malaysia-registered lorry was directed for further checks at the checkpoint on Monday at about 3.20pm after scanned images of the lorry showed anomalies, ICA said. During the checks, officers found duty-unpaid cigarettes hidden in one of the boxes among the consignment, before uncovering more in other boxes.

A 50-year-old Malaysian male who was the driver of the truck, the cigarettes and the vehicle were handed over to the Singapore Customs for further investigations, ICA said. 

The potential duty as well as Goods and Services Tax of the duty-unpaid cigarettes evaded amounted to about S$382,600 and S$23,320, respectively, the agency added. 

The cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes found among the consignment of cooking oil. (Photo: ICA)

“We will continue to conduct security checks on passengers and vehicles at the checkpoints to prevent attempts to smuggle in undesirable persons, drugs, weapons, explosives and other contrabands. The same methods of concealment used by contraband smugglers may be used by terrorists to smuggle arms and explosives to carry out attacks in Singapore,” ICA said. 

SINGAPORE: Fancy having a robot teach your kids, or having them use educational tools integrated with artificial intelligence (AI)?

Just over four in 10 Singaporeans, or 43 per cent, polled by Blackbox Research were keen on integrating AI in their children’s education. This was below the regional average of 58 per cent and just above Indonesia at 40 per cent – the lowest among the five Asian countries surveyed. Japan, China and South Korea were the other three countries surveyed.

Blackbox surveyed 3,213 adult respondents across the five countries between Oct 12 and 23 last year. 

Similarly for transport, Singaporeans and Indonesians showed the most resistance towards AI integration. According to the survey, 49 per cent of Singaporeans and 47 per cent of Indonesians polled said they were comfortable with this, below the regional average of 66 per cent. China topped the category at 76 per cent.

“Surprisingly for a country playing host to the world’s first self-driving taxis, less than half of Singaporeans are comfortable with AI integration in their transport, suggesting a decrease in trust in self-automated transport post July’s runaway LRT incident,” the survey report said.

On Jul 28 last year, a fault on an LRT train’s antenna caused the train to skip three stations along the Bukit Panjang LRT line.

The country is continuing its push in this area though, loosening up regulations to foster innovation, particularly in the autonomous vehicle arena.

On Tuesday, Parliament passed the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, which includes a regulatory sandbox allowing the Transport Minister to create new rules that can place time and space limits on the AV trials, set standards for the design of the AV equipment and impose requirements to share data from the trials, among others. 

AI MORE WELCOMED IN HOMES, RETAIL

When it comes to having AI integrated with homes, however, Singaporeans were more receptive, the survey found. 

A total of 74 per cent of Singapore respondents would be willing to have the technology in their house, in line with the regional average of 80 per cent. China, again, led the way with 87 per cent while South Korea, home to Samsung and its range of AI-integrated household control technology, followed at 79 per cent. 

Almost nine in 10 Chinese, or 88 per cent, would also allow a robot to do their household chores, followed by Japan at 76 per cent and South Korea at 75 per cent. Singapore and Indonesia were at 67 per cent, the survey showed.

A high level of acceptance for AI tech was seen for the supermarkets category, too, with 73 per cent of Singaporeans indicating their acceptance.

“Most of Asia seems ready to accept AI into their retail shopping lives, especially in supermarkets where self-checkout systems are becoming an everyday norm,” the survey report said. 

Overall, just under four in five Asians in the countries polled were comfortable with AI entering their everyday lives, with China leading the way in terms of adopting it, Blackbox found. 

“The survey findings show that the potential for artificial intelligence in Asia is enormous. Theoretically, Asians have always been quick adaptors of new technology, and it would seem that the region is now poised to lead the rest of the world in embracing even higher forms of technology,” it said.