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SINGAPORE: The mistake in clearing parts of the Kranji forested area could undermine recent efforts by Singapore authorities to better engage nature groups, said conservation advocates who expressed shock and disappointment at the mistake.
The 70ha Kranji forested area, roughly the size of Jurong Lake Gardens, is along a green artery known as the Rail Corridor.
About 18ha had been set aside for the first phase of development of the Agri-Food Innovation Park, but a JTC Corp contractor mistakenly cleared some parts before an environmental impact assessment could be completed.
Revealing this on Tuesday (Feb 16), JTC said it hired an environmental specialist to conduct a study in December and come up with an environmental management plan for specific parcels of land in the area.
The study was expected to be completed around April, but the ground cleared before then.
READ: Land intended for the Agri-Food Innovation Park in Kranji cleared ‘wrongly’: JTC
JTC did not say when its contractor, Huationg, began cleaning the area, but said it discovered the bug on January 13 and ordered the company to immediately stop all cleanup work.
The CNA has contacted JTC for more information, including details on the area of land that was accidentally cleared.
Excavators are seen in cleared land in Kranji on February 17, 2021 (Photo: Calvin Oh).
A CORRIDOR FOR WILDLIFE
When CNA visited the job site Wednesday, it was quiet with idle construction crews.
Along the nearby nature walk, the dark green hoarding can be glimpsed, but it’s not obvious that the trees and shrubs beyond have been leveled.
Aerial photos posted by Facebook user Brice Li on February 14 showed swaths of land that had been cleared. Trees had been cut down on both sides and only a narrow strip of green remained.
A composite image of the area in May 2019 and February 2021. (Photo: Facebook / Brice Li)
After its publication, some defenders of nature intervened on social networks.
“This is an impressive development in a major green area of the rail corridor,” said the Facebook group We Support The Green Corridor in Singapore.
READ: Here’s what life could look like when the new Green Plan is realized in 2030
The forested area in Kranji is one of the few patches of forest in the northern stretch of the railway corridor, said Leong Kwok Peng, who chairs the conservation committee of the Nature Society Singapore.
An area of the Kranji forests cleared for the Agri-Food Innovation Park, as seen on February 17, 2021. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
The 24 km rail corridor runs from Tanjong Pagar in the south to Woodlands in the north of Singapore. The railway land, which once belonged to Malaysia, was returned to Singapore in 2011 and is considered a green corridor that will link a number of future developments.
It is also a corridor for wildlife, Mr. Leong said.
“You can’t just have a linear area lined with trees and expect nature to continue to move north and south. You must have some kind of forest in the middle for the animals to eat, ”he added.
Mr. Leong said that the Nature Society has discussed mitigation measures with JTC and hopes that the remaining green belt can be retained and expanded. “Of course, it won’t be the same,” he said.
“ONCE IT’S GONE, IT’S GONE”
Other conservation advocates CNA spoke with also expressed shock and disappointment at the erroneous authorization.
“We cannot afford to make this kind of mistake,” said biological scientist N Sivasothi.
He added that the slip-up appeared to undermine efforts made by authorities in recent years to improve consultations with nature groups.
Sivasothi said that once the baseline studies are done, the plans are typically discussed with nature groups to see how potential impacts can be mitigated or even avoided, which has been a move in the right direction.
Speaking of a detailed participation process, he said: “The fact that all of this is simply thrown away without due consideration is quite criminal at this stage.
Conservation scientist and nominee Member of Parliament Professor Koh Lian Pin added that baseline environmental studies help highlight potential ecological impacts if the site is subsequently cleared or disturbed.
“Since this part of the Kranji forest was logged prior to the completion of its baseline study, we may never know the full extent of the ecological impacts of this logging.”
View of the cleared land in Kranji, seen on February 17, 2021 (Photo: Calvin Oh)
He added that these studies are key to providing policy makers with scientific insights to help them “make more informed decisions and consider the need for any mitigation action.”
“This is especially important in Singapore, where we have to balance the many priorities of our society,” added Professor Koh.
Rep. Louis Ng (PAP-Nee Soon) added that he was shocked by the erroneous clearing, especially amid recent public focus on the importance of conserving green space.
READ: Government will ‘proceed with care’ when developing nearby areas of rich biodiversity: Desmond Lee
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“As (MND) said then, any decision to clear the land must be based on science, so these studies are important.
“Now a part has been lost and we may not know what we have lost,” said Mr Ng, who is also the chairman of the Government’s Parliamentary Commission for Sustainability and the Environment.
Ng said he has submitted a parliamentary question asking the National Development Ministry if it is investigating the mistake and whether it will further strengthen the environmental impact assessment (EIA) framework to avoid the repetition of such mistakes.
The framework, first introduced in 2008, aims to determine and mitigate the potential impact of new developments on the environment.
Specifically, Mr. Ng suggested codifying the framework into law.
She also said that “there is no use crying over spilled milk,” and that it is more important to find out why it happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Professor Koh echoed this, adding that reviewing the flaw would be “in the interest of maintaining public confidence in the integrity of the process” of conducting environmental studies prior to development.
View of the cleared terrain in Kranji, seen on February 17, 2021 (Photo: Calvin Oh).
Regarding environmental remediation measures, Mr. Sivasothi warned that “once (the vegetation) is gone, it is gone.”
The next best course of action is to quickly re-examine the site to mitigate the impact, and this would include tying up clumps of nature as soon as possible, said the senior professor in the department of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS). .
The environmental “baseline” would also have to be reviewed again now that the forest has been impacted, he said.
“With that terrible scar, we’ll just have to reassess according to the current situation.”
