Street Works Act 1995

Street Works Act 1995 2020 REVISED EDITION This revised edition incorporates all amendments up to and including 1 December 2021 and comes into operation on 31 December 2021 An Act relating to the construction, improvement, repair, maintenance and management of streets and backlanes and other matters connected therewith, and the prevention of obstruction of five-footways and private footways. [11/2003] [1 September 1995] PART 1 PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act is the Street Works Act 1995. Interpretation 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “accredited checker” means a person who is registered as an accredited checker under section 16 of the Building Control Act 1989; “annual value” has the meaning given by the Property Tax Act 1960; “Authority” means the Land Transport Authority of Singapore established under the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act 1995; “backlane” includes — (a) every existing backlane and any part thereof and any approach thereto; (b) all land already or hereafter acquired or set apart for or laid out as a backlane; and (c) all channels, drains and appurtenances of a backlane; “bridge” includes any flyover, overpass and viaduct; “building” means any permanent or temporary building and includes any structure or erection of whatever kind or nature (whether permanent or temporary) and in particular — (a) a wall (including a retaining wall), partition, gate, fence, paling, platform, staging, post, pillar, shoring, hoarding or frame; (b) a slip, dock, wharf, pier, jetty, landing stage or bridge; (c) a culvert, crossing, bridge, underpass or tunnel; or (d) a sewage treatment plant, sewer, control centre, pump house, substation, drain, swimming pool or tank for the storage of any solid, liquid or gaseous matter; “Chief Executive” means the Chief Executive of the Authority; “Commissioner of Building Control” means the Commissioner of Building Control appointed under section 3 of the Building Control Act 1989; “competent authority” means any person who is appointed under section 5 of the Planning Act 1998 for the purposes of Part 3 of that Act; “dwelling house” includes a building or tenement wholly or principally used, constructed or adapted for use for human habitation; “footway” includes any footpath, verandah‑way, open or covered walkway, pedestrian mall, plaza, square, and other related structures and facilities; “holding” means any piece or parcel of land held or possessed under an instrument of title, capable of being registered under the Registration of Deeds Act 1988, or where applicable under the Land Titles Act 1993, relating exclusively thereto; “house” includes any dwelling house, warehouse, office, shop, school and any other building in which persons are employed; “key structural elements” means culverts, retaining walls, bridges and such other parts of a street which are essential for the stability or safety of the street; “occupier”, in relation to any premises, means the person in occupation of the premises or having the charge, management or control thereof either on the person’s own account or as agent of another person, but does not include a lodger; “outsourced enforcement officer”, in relation to any provision of this Act or regulations made under this Act, means an individual who — (a) is appointed under section 11 of the Land Transport Authority of Singapore Act 1995; (b) is authorised by or under that Act to exercise any powers under any provision of this Act or regulations made under this Act, as the case may be; and (c) is acting within that authorisation; “owner”, in relation to any premises, means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises whether on the person’s own account or as agent or trustee for any other person or as receiver or who would receive the rent if the premises were let to a tenant, and includes the person whose name is entered in the Valuation List prepared under section 10 of the Property Tax Act 1960; “premises” includes buildings, lands, easements and hereditaments of any tenure; “private footway” means any footway that is not vested in the Government and that — (a) is intended pursuant to a planning or conservation permission granted by the competent authority under the Planning Act 1998 to be used mainly for the movement or passage of people on foot, and is used or intended to be used — (i) as a link either underground or at the second or upper storey level between 2 developments across their common boundary; (ii) as a link either underground or at the second or upper storey level between a development and a station of the rapid transit system, a bus terminal or a bus interchange; or (iii) as a link over or underneath a public street between 2 developments or parts of the same development; (b) is connected to a station of the rapid transit system, a bus terminal or a bus interchange and is used or intended to be used as a means of access between that station, bus terminal or bus interchange and a public street; (c) is on a bridge or underpass directly connected to and is over or underneath a public street; or (d) is located in a single holding and fronting, adjoining or abutting a public street; “private street” means any street not being a public street; “public bridge” means a bridge which carries a public street; “public street” means any street over which the public has a right of way and which has become vested in the Government under this Act or the repealed Act, or in any other manner; “repealed Act” means the repealed Local Government Integration Act (Cap. 166, 1985 Revised Edition); “road related facility” includes any traffic sign, directional sign, street name sign, traffic light, bus shelter, place for the parking of bicycles, power-assisted bicycles or personal mobility devices, railing, lighting apparatus and any optical, electronic, communication, monitoring or computerised equipment necessary for the control and management of traffic, and any other road related structure and facility maintained by the Authority; “road structure” includes any bridge, underpass, tunnel, earth retaining wall and ancillary buildings; “street” includes — (a) any road, bridge, underpass, tunnel, square, path, footway or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public has a right of way; and (b) any road, path, footway or passage, open court or open alley, used or intended to be used as a means of access to 2 or more holdings, whether the public has a right of way thereover or not, and all channels, drains, ditches and reserves that are deemed to be part of the street; “street works” includes works of levelling, paving, metalling, flagging, kerbing, channelling, draining, lighting, laying of cables and mains and other utility services and otherwise the making good of a street or part of the street; “tunnel” means a tunnel which carries a public street or utilities; “utilities” includes water pipes, gas pipes, sewer pipes, drainage facilities, electricity cables, telecommunication cables and any other pipes, cables and their related apparatuses; “utility works” includes works of — (a) breaking up or opening a street for the laying, repairing, adjusting, altering or removing of utilities or for the examining of subsoil condition or existing utilities; and (b) tunnelling, boring under a street or any other construction method which does not require the opening up of a street. [3/98; 11/2003; 3/2017; 38/2018] Exemption 3. The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, exempt any area or place from the operation of this Act or any provision thereof. Authority to manage, maintain and repair public streets and administer this Act 4.—(1) The Authority is responsible for the management, maintenance and repair of all public streets, including the footways and road related facilities thereof (but not channels, drains, ditches and reserves abutting a street), and for the general administration of this Act. [38/2018] (2) The Authority may, subject to such conditions or restrictions as it thinks fit, appoint public officers and officers employed by other statutory bodies to carry out any of its powers, functions and duties under this Act.