Heritage society 'disappointed' with Govt's Bukit Brown decision

Grace Chua Straits Times 6 Feb 12;

THE Singapore Heritage Society wants Bukit Brown Cemetery to be fully documented, and its heritage and environmental value taken into account, before any road or housing decisions are made, it said in a position paper.

It added it was 'deeply disappointed' with the Government's decision to continue with a road through part of the historical burial ground, adding it regretted there was no public consultation before zoning and road-building decisions were made.

The position paper, released on Saturday night, comes after a Facebook post on Friday by Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin, who described the ongoing work to document some 5,000 of the graves there.

In his post, Mr Tan - who is the Government's de facto point man on Bukit Brown public engagement - said a controversial road through the cemetery would be adjusted to reduce the impact on the graves, based on the documentation exercise.

But the society felt that documentation of all graves should have come before the route setting, rather than the other way around.

The dual four-lane carriageway was announced last year and is meant to ease congestion on Lornie Road. However, it will affect 5 per cent of the area's 100,000 grave sites.

The society said: 'The argument that a road which is not the shortest possible route through the cemetery is sub-optimal is a calculation based upon traffic needs only.

'Unlike standard road-building projects, this one comes at the opportunity cost of a unique historical and valuable natural space in Singapore.'

It added that the society 'regrets there was no consultation prior to the decision, and urges the Government to consider alternatives that would not destroy the heritage value in the cemetery'.

The 223ha cemetery, which is slated for residential use under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Concept Plan 2001, is the resting place of notable immigrants like businessmen Cheang Hong Lim and Chew Joo Chiat. The society's paper argues that it is not only the graves, but also cultural practices like rituals and offerings, which will be lost should the graves be exhumed for development.

It recommended the cemetery be gazetted as a heritage site and turned into a heritage park, suggestions it had made in its book Spaces Of The Dead: A Case From The Living, which argues for cemeteries to be conserved as open-air museums or parks.

The society also suggested the Government look at best practices of historical cemeteries and heritage parks such as Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts and Saints Innocents Cemetery in Paris.

'If it is not possible to gazette Bukit Brown in its entirety, large swathes of the cemetery can be designated for legal protection,' the paper said, adding that the decision on which parts to be gazetted can be made based on information gleaned from the full documentation of Bukit Brown's graves.

Cost-benefit analyses, the society added, should be a key part of any heritage-related decision, and take into account a site's physical space, its biodiversity, value as a tourist attraction, and the sense of identity or belonging it promotes among citizens.

Likewise, environmental impact assessments should be done, it said. The lushly forested cemetery slows down stormwater run-off into the Kallang River, wrote Assistant Professor Lim Han She of the National University of Singapore's geography department, in an annex to the position paper.

The hydrologist added that clearing the vegetation would increase surface run-off, straining drainage systems around the Thomson Road area.

Other environment and heritage civic groups have previously taken a similar stance.

The Nature Society (Singapore) last year put out a position paper asking planners to consider the site's uncommon birds and plants, and its value as a carbon dioxide sink and rainfall 'sponge'.

Members of the public have also spoken up. In a December letter published in The Straits Times, Madam Marian Tay wrote that 'already-concretised plots like Turf City are left untouched for years, golf courses are not acquired, and much of western Singapore is still available for development'.

Mr Tan, who is also Minister of State for Manpower, had noted on Friday that Bukit Brown could hold 15,000 homes for around 50,000 residents, and be an extension of Toa Payoh township.

Asked about Bukit Brown's potential for housing, Heritage Society executive committee member Terence Chong, who wrote the paper, said that the society 'understands the nation has housing needs. However, housing at Bukit Brown Cemetery remains a conceptual possibility which must be reassessed with changing times'.

Heritage Society takes issue with handling of plans for Bukit Brown
Esther Ng Today Online 6 Feb 12;

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Heritage Society (SHS) has spoken against what it felt was a lack of "genuine" consultation on the Government's decision to build a road through the Bukit Brown Cemetery.

In a 26-page position paper released over the weekend, the SHS said: "Unfortunately, such consultation processes have, in reality, been used by the Government for two purposes - to inform civil society and relevant stakeholders of the rationale behind government decisions and/or to gather feedback in order to fine-tune such decisions before they are announced to the public."

The SHS claimed that the decision - which it is "deeply disappointed" with - to build the road was relayed privately to a senior member of SHS by the authorities only two weeks before it was publicly announced on Sept 12. A series of meetings was then held between the SHS, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, where the "primary purpose ... was for the authorities to explain the need for the road".

Urging the Government to reconsider its decision, SHS said it understands the need to provide public housing and relieve traffic congestion. But it does not believe that "enough effort has been invested" in the search for alternative solutions.

The SHS adds that it "strongly recommends" gazetting Bukit Brown as a heritage site, the full documentation of the graves and the conversion of Bukit Brown "into a heritage park for Singaporeans to enjoy".

Starting in April, about 5 per cent of the cemetery's 100,000 or so graves will be exhumed.

On Friday, Minister of State (National Development) Tan Chuan-Jin said on his Facebook page that the road will proceed as planned. But the LTA will "use the findings from the documentation exercise to fine-tune the road alignment so as to reduce the impact on the graves". Esther Ng

The SHS position paper can be viewed at http://tdy.sg/shsbktbrwn.

The Singapore Heritage Society’s Position Paper on Bukit Brown is now available at the society’s
website: http://www.singaporeheritage.org/

Direct download link to the Position Paper on Bukit Brown: http://singaporeheritage.theadventus.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/11/SHS_BB_Position_Paper.pdf

Residents split over new Bukit Brown road
Those in Sime Road worry about noise, while Lornie residents expect less traffic
Royston Sim & Goh Chin Lian Straits Times 7 Feb 12;

TWO sets of residents have mixed reactions regarding the building of a road through Bukit Brown cemetery.

While those who live along Sime Road are upset that they will have to put up with noise and pollution once the dual four-lane road to run behind their homes is operational, those residing along Lornie Road will have some reason to cheer.

They can expect less traffic on the busy carriageway after it is reduced to a dual two-lane road when the Bukit Brown road is completed in 2016.

Work on the estimated 2km new road - which will start from Lornie Road, cut through Bukit Brown and join Adam Road before the Pan-Island Expressway exits - is expected to begin early next year.

There are 19 bungalows and semi-detached houses along Sime Road. Besides citing noise and pollution concerns, residents like Mr Daniel Goh, 63, also expressed concern that the new road would cut off their access to Kheam Hock Road.

Now, Sime Road leads to Kheam Hock Road, which in turn connects to Dunearn or Bukit Timah road.

The residents will no longer have that direct access after the new road is built. Mr Goh said that during a meeting last October, Land Transport Authority (LTA) officials said an underpass would be created off Lornie Road so residents could use that instead to access Kheam Hock Road.

Besides the inconvenience of a longer drive to use the proposed underpass, Mr Goh fears an accident on the new road could divert traffic back to Lornie Road and clog up that carriageway too. 'We are very worried. They are going to choke off our entrance and exit,' said the retiree, who has lived in Sime Road since 1987.

Traffic along Lornie Road is not that bad except during peak hours, he added, so he feels it is 'mind-boggling' that the LTA would want to create a new road with eight lanes instead of just expanding Lornie Road, which has seven lanes in both directions.

Another Sime Road resident, who wanted to be known only as Ms Tay, said it would definitely be a lot noisier with the new road behind her home. 'Urbanisation is good, but you have to retain... what makes Singapore beautiful,' said the 25-year-old student.

Grassroots leader Michael Ng said about 30 residents turned up at the LTA meeting last October. They live in semi-detached houses and bungalows along Lornie Road and Sime Road, and represented about half of the 50 to 60 households that grassroots leaders had informed about the meeting.

Mr Ng, chairman of the Dunearn Neighbourhood Committee for the area, recalled that the LTA had shown a map of the proposed road then.

He said it could not confirm the alignment of the road at the meeting as it had to take into account the position of the graves, which he was told had not yet been documented.

'The residents know the road will come out from Adam Road, but how near to or how far from their homes, they don't know,' he added.

No further meetings with the LTA have been scheduled.

Even so, there are those who are glad that the new road will divert traffic away from Lornie Road.

Counselling psychologist Georgina Chin, who is in her mid-40s and lives in Wallace Way, said it would be easier to turn out to Lornie Road. It can be difficult now because of heavy traffic and cars speeding towards Adam Road. She added: 'The noise is awful. I genuinely look forward to the noise level going down.'

Others opposed to the new road include heritage groups.

In a position paper released last Saturday, the Singapore Heritage Society said it was 'deeply disappointed' with the Government's decision to go ahead with plans to build the road - as mentioned in a Facebook post by Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin last Friday.

It expressed regret that the Government did not hold consultations prior to the decision and urged the authorities to consider 'alternatives that would not destroy the heritage value in the cemetery'.

The LTA has said that the road would affect just 5 per cent - or about 5,000 - of the 100,000 graves there.

Bukit Brown has been earmarked by the Urban Redevelopment Authority for long-term residential use.