LTA | Tunnelling Towards a Greener Tomorrow: 5 Ways LTA Builds Green

Tunnelling Towards a Greener Tomorrow: 5 Ways LTA Builds Green

Posted on | 28 Feb 2025

The public transport network is growing, and so are LTA’s efforts to keep construction environmentally-friendly.

Image of pedestrians and motorist at a Friendly Streets

From the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) to the Circle Line (CCL) extension and the upcoming Jurong Region Line (JRL) and Cross-Island Line (CRL), Singapore’s MRT tracks are constantly growing to meet commuter needs.

But at LTA, it’s not just about making our public transport network bigger. It’s also about getting better each step of the way—and in the face of climate change, that means making the foundation of every journey as green as possible! This includes aiming to Build Lite with our construction, operations, maintenance activities, technologies, and mobility solutions that are environment-friendly and innovative.

Here's how:

#1 Building Lean, Clean and Green

Eco-friendliness is woven in the minute we start planning our rail lines and stations! And we’re big on ensuring we can tread light and keep resource usage low.

Thanks to this planning, the amount of architectural finishes will be reduced for JRL stations, such as cladding and ceilings, saving us 10% more materials. And for stations under CRL Phases 2 and 3, we’ve managed to cut station ceiling panels by 25%.

Existing structures are also being reused to avoid waste: Tunnel sections have turned into retaining walls to support construction, and we’re building reusable footpaths that we can transport to different site locations. These little steps add up and at the end of the day, less materials means less embodied carbon and less waste!

#2 Concrete Strategies

Did you know that concrete is a huge carbon culprit? It contributes up to eight per cent of global carbon emissions! Good news is because of low-carbon concrete substitutes, we’re finding a way around this.

One method is to substitute cement with recycled or waste materials such as Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS), a by-product of steelmaking. Another way is to introduce recycled and purified carbon dioxide into fresh concrete during mixing, known as carbon mineralisation.

Infographic for CONNECT's using carbon mineralisation construction

The plan is for low-carbon concrete options like these to be used in all CRL2 projects and upcoming footpath renewal contracts. This will allow us to cut carbon emissions by 20%!

Infographic of bringing down CRL2 carbon emissions by 20%

#3 Tech to the Rescue

Advances in technology are making building green a breeze. Now, we've got electric and hybrid construction machinery that uses less fuel and reduces noise levels. It’s also getting easier to build precast and prefabricated structures, so we can easily make walls and staircases off-site and just pop them into place when needed!

These prefabricated pieces not only cut down on leftover materials but also use way less energy, meaning fewer greenhouse gases. It's a win for everyone and the environment!

Image of Guidebook of Sustainable Practices at LTA Sites

#4 Making It Official

We’ve made it known that sustainability isn't a suggestion at LTA, it’s serious business! Up to 5% of a contractor's bid score^[1] will depend on their green practices by 2025, and construction sites have strict rules about using recycled water and sorting waste.

To help our vendors stay on track, we’ve created a guidebook called Guidebook of Sustainable Practices at LTA Sites (PDF, 4.2MB). This offers tips on how to “green” operations, all the way from offices to construction sites.

_{[1] For new construction and consultancy tenders with Estimated Procurement Value (EPV) exceeding $50 million}

#5 Keeping It Real

It’s important to us that we don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. So while we celebrate every little win, we also want to keep it real, stick to the facts.

To make sure everyone’s on the same page, we ask contractors to track their resource use and carbon footprint. This intel is being used to help us understand how much resource we’re using, so we can ensure we keep improving for a cleaner, greener and better future!

Image Vector of Worker monitoring carbon footprint

Be sure to check out LTA’s latest Sustainability Report 2023/2024 (PDF, 9.1MB), for more information about LTA’s performance and progress for various Economic, Environment, Social and Governance topics, organised along four key areas.