Neo Chai Chin Today Online 6 Nov 12;
SINGAPORE - Efforts by some Pasir Ris residents to save a woodland at the junction of Pasir Ris Drive 3 and Elias Road have hit a wall, with development plans for an international school set to go ahead, according to the Ministry of National Development (MND) in two letters addressed to a resident last Tuesday.
The site was among those included in a request-for-interest exercise announced in April, said the letters sent via email and signed by Strategic Planning Manager Loo Jian Sheng for the ministry's Permanent Secretary.
"The request is to meet the demand for places for such schools that play an important role to support international businesses and investments growing their activities and creating economic opportunities and jobs in Singapore," he wrote.
The site was chosen to provide a "good distribution of such school sites islandwide", and is of sufficient size "while minimising impact on surrounding developments".
In July, some residents banded together to form the Pasir Ris Greenbelt Committee to save the woodland, about the size of two football fields and home to bird species including the endangered Changeable Hawk Eagle and critically endangered Oriental Pied Hornbill.
Over 1,200 residents from Pasir Ris Heights and neighbouring HDB blocks signed a petition and engaged the authorities through their Member of Parliament Teo Chee Hean. They also submitted a 217-page document making their case to preserve the forested area.
Mr Loo said the National Parks Board had recorded no rare plant species, 35 bird species and 35 butterfly species at the site between 2004 and 2012 - species also present in other parts of Singapore.
"While there are some bird species of potential conservation importance … NParks notes that not all of these bird species are nesting on site and are likely using the site as part of their overall home range for foraging. There is a realistic chance of these birds nesting at alternative sites," he added. The grounds are, therefore, "not sufficient to call for a detailed environmental impact assessment" that would defer development plans.
However, the school will be encouraged to retain the mature trees to form a natural buffer between the low-rise houses at Pasir Ris Heights and the teaching blocks of the school.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority and other agencies have also worked to minimise the impact of development on the neighbourhood, wrote Mr Loo. The school will be accessed via a new road directly off Pasir Ris Drive 3, while the agencies are working to ensure traffic management measures are in place.
Some residents expressed disappointment at the response and felt their research report had not been taken seriously enough by the authorities.
Mr David Christie, a resident and member of the Greenbelt Committee, said flyers would be distributed to explain the outcome to all residents who had signed the petition and their feedback collated, before the next course of action is decided.
