Chee Siong has been in legal practice for more than 20 years, specialising in the practice area of construction and projects. His areas of practice encompass a wide range of contentious and non-contentious work in the areas of construction, engineering and infrastructure projects.

He is listed in the IFLR1000 since 2015 as a leading lawyer for Energy and Infrastructure disputes and Project Development, in Best Lawyers 2019 and 2020 editions for International Arbitration and recommended in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2017 to 2019 for Construction. He has also been named as a Senior Accredited Specialist for Building and Construction Law by the Singapore Academy of Law’s Specialist Accreditation Scheme.

On the contentious side, Chee Siong has extensive litigation, adjudication, arbitration and mediation experience – both domestic and international. His clients span the spectrum of the industry, including, developers, contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers of various tiers, consultants. His experience includes disputes relating to oil and gas projects, power plants, specialised process plant such as sewage treatment plant, copper smelting and refining plant, marine oil terminal, hotels, specialised warehouses and logistics complexes.

On the non contentious side, Chee Siong has been involved in major building and infrastructure projects in Singapore and in the region including developments of integrated water and power project, oil storage terminals, cement plants, luxury hotels and condominium developments and warehouses and logistics complexes.

Chee Siong is fluent in English and Mandarin.

Experience

His experience includes:

Infrastructure and Projects

• Advised a state-owned enterprise from the People’s Republic of China in the review, drafting and negotiation of an EPC contract for the design, construction and commissioning of cement plants in Angola, Moscow and Indonesia. The combined value of the transactions is valued in excess of US$1.4 billion.
• Advised a global interconnection and data centre company which is listed on NASDAQ with a market capitalisation of more than US$10 billion in relation to a develop and lease build to suit data centre transaction. The data centre is located within the one-north development area in Singapore. The value of the transaction is more than S$300 million.
• Advised a leading solutions providers or integrated logistics and supply chain company in a real estate investment trust transaction involving the design and construction of a multi-storey ramp-up warehouse facility for the purposes of storing Extra High Hazard Category 1 goods and commodities in Singapore. The entire project consists of 3 phases, occupying more than 1.6 million square feet. The value of the transaction is in excess of S$400 million.
• Advised an international contractor in relation to the construction of a tank farm in Netherlands. The issues involved considerations of Dutch corporate law and joint venture relationships. The disputed sums are in excess of EUR20 million.
• Advising a leading contractor in the construction of the water desalination plant in Singapore which has won the “Desalination Plant 2019 award”.
• Advising lender in relation to an integrated water and power project in Singapore which is procured on a PPP basis.
•  Advising concession member and major equipment supplier on the Waste to Energy plant project in Singapore.
• Advising an international contractor in the tender for the construction of a tank farm in Malaysia which is procured on an EPC basis.
• Advised an international contractor in relation to the construction of a sewage treatment plant in Singapore.
• Advised an international contractor in relation to the development of a major hotel complex in one of the integrated resorts in Singapore.
• Advised major logistic companies in relation to the construction of various major logistic and warehouse complexes in Singapore.
• Advising a Singapore branch of a German international EPC contractor, in disputes against a major German contractor in relation to a contract for the supply and installation of specialised systems in a semiconductor plant in Singapore involving claims in excess of S$25 million.
• Advised an international contractor against the employer in relation to the construction of cement silo in Singapore involving claims in excess of S$10 million.
• Acting for a main contractor in an arbitration of a dispute with the employer over the construction of the aviation fuelling facilities for the Tan Son Nhat airport in Vietnam.
• Acted for an international EPC contractor in an arbitration in relation to the construction of a copper smelting and refining plant in Philippines.
• Advised a statutory undertaker against the contractor in a claim relating to the construction of a major expressway in Singapore.
• Advised an international contractor in an arbitration over the construction of a light rail transport system in Singapore.
• Acted for a leading provider of integrated water management and environmental solutions in respect of a dispute over an EPC contract in People’s Republic of China. The dispute is governed by Chinese law and has been referred for arbitration to CIETAC. The claims and counterclaims are in excess of S$100 million.
• Acted for a state owned enterprise in People’s Republic of China in respect of a dispute over the engineering, design and procurement services provided in respect of a plant project in Indonesia. The dispute is governed by French law. The claims and counterclaims are in excess of US$100 million.
• Acted for a major Japanese contractor on the high-speed rail project in Taiwan in respect of numerous ICC arbitrations against international contractors. These disputes are governed by the laws of Taiwan and require intimate domain knowledge of trackwork and signalling. The amounts in dispute are in excess of EUR80 million.
• Advised a leading contractor which is listed on the Singapore stock exchange in its property development in Tianjin Eco City, People’s Republic of China worth CNY 4.5 billion including on contractual and regulatory issues.
• Acted for a world leading Chinese petrochemical producer in an ICC arbitration involving a Mexican leading petrochemical consultant and a Canadian international contractor over a terephthalic acid plant project in People’s Republic of China. The disputed amount is in excess of US$25 million.
• Involved in conducting training for China officials in relation to procurement of public infrastructure project through PPP model.
• Advised on disputes relating to management corporations, having acted various stakeholders in more than 20 developments in Singapore.
• Advised various local contractors/employers in relation to various claims relating to more than 20 adjudications.

Energy & resource

• Advised an international EPC contractor to defend a claim by the employer in relation to the construction of a marine terminal for crude oil in Africa. The claims are in excess of US$250 million.
• Advised a statutory undertaker in an arbitration in relation to the construction of a natural gas pipeline in Singapore involving claims in excess of S$45 million.
• Advised an international EPC contractor against the employer in relation to the construction of a significant geothermal plant in Indonesia involving claims in excess of US$100 million.
• Advised an international resource supplier in an arbitration in relation to the supply of sand from Cambodia to Singapore involving claims in excess of S$40 million.
• Acted for a company incorporated in Kuwait in an ICC arbitration in relation to oil concession rights in Indonesia.
• Acted for an international consultant in a dispute over the construction of oil refinery facilities in Fujairah UAE.
• Advised an international specialist contractor in an arbitration in relation to the construction of a power plant in Malaysia involving claims in excess of RM20 million.
• Acted for an international EPC contractor in an arbitration concerning a fabrication of a gas well fluid platform in India.
• Advised an international consultant relating to construction of a petroleum storage and handling terminal in Sitra, the Kingdom of Bahrain.
• Advised an international contractor in relation to disputes over the construction of tank terminal in Netherlands.
• Advised an international contractor relating to the construction of hydrocarbon storage & distribution facility in Malaysia.
• Advised an international EPC contractor in relation to the construction of a petrochemical facility in Singapore involving claims in excess of S$700 million.
• Advised a joint venture company (by two oil majors) on its development of the grass-roots lube oil additives blending plant at Zhangjiagang Industrial Park in Jiangsu Province, People’s Republic of China.
• Advised a company listed in Singapore on an approximately S$132 million brownfield large crude and fuel oil tanks farm project with a combined capacity of approximately 430,000m3 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The project includes related infrastructure needed to enable the existing refinery to enhance its crude oil processing capacity as well as on-site and off-site works which will be carried out to integrate the new storage facility with the refinery's current processing units.
• Advised concession holders on coal bed methane projects in Indonesia. Our roles include advice on issues relating to production sharing agreement, joint operating agreement, farm in farm out arrangement and joint land use arrangement.
• Advised a company listed in Singapore on contractual arrangement for a substantial mixed development at downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
• Advised an international contractor on the contractual arrangements and procurement structure in relation to the construction of one of the desalination plant in Singapore.
• Advised resource suppliers in relation to exploration and mining of tin, coal and bauxite in Indonesia.

Reported Cases

• Eastern Pretech Pte Ltd v Kin Lin Builders Pte Ltd [2004] SGHC 195
• Lim Guan Cheng v JSD Construction Pte Ltd and Another [2004] 1 SLR 318; [2003] SGHC 293
• Chip Hup Hup Kee Construction Pte Ltd v Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co Ltd [2009] SGHC 269
• Chip Hup Hup Kee Construction Pte Ltd v Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co Ltd [2009] SGHC 237
• Tentat Singapore Pte Ltd v Win Bo Pte Ltd [2010] SGHC 283

Memberships / Directorships

• Panel of arbitrators with the Langfang arbitration commission in China
• Accredited Adjudicator with the Singapore Mediation Centre

Publications

• Co-author, “Workplace Safety and Health – A Practical Guide”, LexisNexis (2007)
• Contributor, “Construction section of the Singapore Precedents of Pleadings”, Sweet & Maxwell (2006)
• Contributor, “The European Lawyer Reference First Edition 2012 on construction law and practice”, Thomson Reuters