Alternatives to Stamford Canal needed

Today Online 3 Jan 12;

SINGAPORE - Alternatives to the Stamford Canal to drain away rain water in the Orchard Road area are needed quickly, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan acknowledged yesterday.

And Dr Balakrishnan assured that the authorities will act to rectify the issue, although the solution - of building "reserve capacity" for the canal - will not be in place overnight.

"Clearly, more needs to be done. The fact that Stamford Canal at that section has reached 100 per cent capacity means that we don't have enough reserve capacity to deal with more intense rainfall and further variability in the weather, which I anticipate will occur in the future. So, we will have to accelerate our plans for alternatives to Stamford Canal," he said.

Dr Balakrishnan was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by charity Focus on Family Singapore. His comments came after PUB had said last week that the flooding at Liat Towers on Dec 23 was due to some parts of Stamford Canal being quickly filled up from heavy and prolonged rainfall.

Dr Balakrishnan said he will address the issue in Parliament next week. He added: "It's not something which can be solved overnight ... these are very expensive projects ... we will have to approach this methodically and carefully. But what I'm making a commitment to is that we will make things better."

When contacted, Members of Parliament told Today that as the issue was highly technical, they would wait until more complete information was available before considering if more alternatives should be considered.

Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development and Environment, added that she was "waiting eagerly" for the expert panel's recommendations for a "total solution to the problem, which has affected businesses".

In the meantime, Liat Towers and PUB are constructing a 60cm-tall perimeter wall along the internal drain to prevent water from flowing back into the basement.

Since Orchard Road was hit by flash floods in 2010, there have been several projects carried out to prevent flooding, including the raising of some roads in the area which were completed in June last year.

In August last year, PUB also started a feasibility study on the construction of a detention pond and diversion canal for the Stamford catchment. The study is expected to be completed in May. CHANNEL NEWSASIA, WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY TEO XUANWEI

Build in reserve capacity for Stamford Canal: minister
Channel NewsAsia 2 Jan 12;

SINGAPORE: Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said a "reserve capacity" has to be built in to reduce the loading for Stamford Canal.

This follows national water agency PUB's assessment that the flooding at Liat Towers on 23 December 2011 was due to some parts of Stamford Canal being quickly filled up from heavy and prolonged rainfall.

Because the canal - which runs in front of Liat Towers - was full, rainwater could not flow into it any more. As such, rainwater draining off from the roof and the back area of Liat Towers into an internal drain overflowed into the building's basement area, adding to the pooling of water there.

Dr Balakrishnan said he will address the issue in Parliament next week.

"Clearly, more needs to be done. The fact that Stamford Canal at that section has reached 100 per cent capacity means that we don't have enough reserve capacity to deal with more intense rainfall and further variability in the weather, which I anticipate will occur in the future. So, we will have to accelerate our plans for alternatives to Stamford Canal," he said on Monday.

He also gave assurances that the authorities will act to fix the problem.

He said: "Clearly, there still needs to be a reserve capacity built in and that's something we are going to have to work on. It's not something which can be solved overnight...these are very expensive projects...we will have to approach this methodically and carefully. But what I'm making a commitment to is that we will make things better."

Dr Balakrishnan was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by local charity, Focus on Family Singapore.

Over 1,000 people gathered at a movie theatre to watch the premiere of "Courageous" - a fatherhood-themed film that touches on family issues.

Other guests included MPs Teo Ser Luck and Seah Kian Peng, as well as film director Jack Neo, and their families.

Focus on Family Singapore hopes the event will raise about S$100,000, which will be channelled towards helping over 50,000 people at various stages of family life.

- CNA/cc/ac

'Accelerate plans for Stamford Canal alternative'
Amanda Tan Straits Times 3 Jan 12;

PLANS to put in place alternatives to Stamford Canal, which runs along Orchard Road, must be 'accelerated', said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan.

The fact that some parts of the canal were full during heavy rainfall more than a week ago shows that there is not enough 'reserve capacity' to deal with such situations.

Because the canal was full, rainwater could not flow into it any more - a factor which caused the basement of Liat Towers to be flooded.

In his first comments since the flooding, Mr Balakrishnan said: 'We will have to accelerate our plans for alternatives to Stamford Canal or even retention point upstream in order to reduce the loading on that section of the canal.

'We need to buy ourselves a larger margin for error.'

But it will take time for some of the measures to be implemented, he added.

'It's not something which can be solved overnight because these are very expensive projects. It will take major infrastructure so we will have to approach this methodically and carefully.'

The minister said he will give a full update in Parliament next week.

He was speaking to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a movie screening organised by charity Focus on the Family.

Faced with the constraints of expanding the canal given its urban location, national water agency PUB is looking at other alternatives.

It is studying, for instance, the feasibility of building a detention pond and a diversion canal for the Stamford catchment for the longer term.

The study is expected to be completed in May.

Other measures that have been implemented so far include floodgates, which were installed at Liat Towers in 2010. The shopping mall is also building a 60cm-high wall which will be ready this week.

In June last year, a $26 million project to raise a 1.4km stretch of road from Tanglin Road to Cairnhill Road by an average of 30cm was completed.