Company & director guilty of environmental violations

Satish Cheney Channel NewsAsia 3 Jun 11;

SINGAPORE : A.N.A Contractor and its director, Tan Boon Kwee, have pleaded guilty to offences under Singapore's environmental laws.

They included disposing industrial waste, namely wood chips, at 91 Jalan Lekar in Lim Chu Kang, when constructing Singapore's first wildlife centre for the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES).

The company and Tan were slapped with a total of 67 charges under the Environmental Public Health Act as well as the Environmental Protection and Management Act.

The prosecution went ahead with 43 charges, with the rest taken into consideration.

Sentencing will take place on June 28.

The dumping of woodchips onto the site had also led to the discharge of wastewater into the Kranji Reservoir.

ACRES said it would take about six months to complete the wildlife centre - but only after the contamination is removed.

It is hoping that A.N.A. Contractor will be made to remove the contamination, which it said would cost some S$4.8 million.

The centre is meant to house animals rescued from illegal wildlife trade as well as injured native animals.

ACRES said while the case has affected morale over the years, the society will soldier on.

Louis Ng, executive director of ACRES, said: "When we first came up with the idea of opening the rescue centre in Singapore, a lot of people were sceptical - a lot of people told me 'Look, Louis, if you can get this going, pigs will fly'.

"And if you realise, at our reception (area), we have a flying pig model there to show people that pigs can fly in Singapore. We've always remained optimistic that we can overcome this. We've hung on for three-and-a-half years now. If it takes another three-and-a-half years, we'll continue to persevere on."

- CNA/al