Case Scenario

Global warming has become an existential threat for mankind. It has led to climate change with erratic and extreme weather conditions and rising sea levels. In his 2019 National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong highlighted the need for Singapore to address this long term threat to the country. He outlined various strategies over a 100-year time horizon and initiated a whole-of-government approach to addressing this issue.

The Ministry of National Development (MND) is concerned about rising sea levels as Singapore is a low-lying island. The concern is with flooding that will damage both transportation and building infrastructures leading to major economic disruptions. Measures to combat this include anti-flood drainage networks, construction of coastal levees and development of polders. Unfortunately, it has no experience in any of these. The Minister has therefore instructed the Infrastructural Division to undertake studies and pilot projects to assess the suitability of these various anti-flooding solutions.

Thus, the inaugural Sungei Punggol Levee Pilot Project (SLIP) was constituted to learn more about how effective levees can be in keeping out rising sea water. The idea was to dam up the first one km of the river and build embankments around it. Sensors would be embedded in the embankments for remote real-time monitoring of tidal flows and water depth. Sungei Punggol was chosen because it was not a major river and the ecological impact of the project was assessed to be minimal. The experience gained from the SLIP project would also be useful for understanding floodwall and seawall defences against flooding.

Ramesh Ragha, the Divisional Director, quickly assembled a project team to undertake the pilot study. The project will be led by Leonard Lee, a highly experienced Senior Civil Engineer from the Infrastructural Division. Other team members from the same division have also been selected to work on the project. Table 1 below shows the project team members and the major tasks that will need to be carried out for the project

Task Name Duration * Predeceresource Names 1 Sungei Punggol Levee Pilot Project 323 days Leonard N Admin & Finance 313 days Siti 3 Prepare Budget for Pilot Project 15 days 9,10 AiLing 4 Get Approval for Budget 8 days 3 AiLing Un Get Contractor Quotations 30 days 4 Ailing 6 Evaluate and Select Contractor 12 days 5 AiLing 7 Coordinate Official Launch programme 20 days 20FF Publicity[1] 8 Technical Work 321 days Seetoh 9 Procure Geological Report 8 days Report[1] 10 Site Survey 10 days Aaryan 11 Prepare Technical Specifications 20 days 10 Aaryan 12 Build Levee with remote sensors 180 days 6 Contractor 13 Develop Monitoring Software 100 days 6 Alex 14 Integrate sensors with Monitoring Software 15 days 13,12 Alex 15 Test Remote Monitoring System 30 days 14 Alex 16 Refine Remote Monitoring System 21 days 15 Alex 17 Publicity Management 290 days Samantha 18 Develop Communications Plan 10 days 4 Allan 19 Execute Communications Plan 278 days 18 Allan 20 Official Launch by Minister 2 days 16 Allan