Letter from Poh Wei Leong, Straits Times Forum 8 Apr 08;
I REFER to last Saturday's article, 'Jurong's massive make-over', in which Jurong is slated to be developed into a regional business hub, to be dubbed 'Jurong Lake District'.
I applaud the Government for yet another effort to decentralise business centres so commuting time will be reduced. At the same time, I appeal to the planning authorities to use this opportunity to infuse sustainable concepts into this project.
We hear of Singapore co-operating with China to build eco-cities. And we know many landscape and architectural planners no longer have the criterion of aesthetics as their key focus. Designing a city that is liveable, lively and 'alive', so it can exist sustainably by adopting environment-friendly eco-principles, is now a calling for these planners.
We have seen the price of oil rocket. And we have read how consumers' tastes in public projects have changed to allow projects that are socially and environmentally responsible. Many would thus agree that cost savings will be higher if the Jurong Lake District is intelligently designed from the beginning to be sustainable, rather than introducing corrective measures when pressure to do so, for what-ever reason, is applied.
Let's walk the talk about building eco-cities here. No doubt it is a huge challenge, but if planners cannot do it now, then they won't know how to do it in the near future - when sustainability becomes an absolute necessity.
