Singapore's forested areas rapidly dwindling in face of urban development

Straits Times Forum 2 Jul 13;

THE report ("Mr Lee plants another tree, 50 years on"; June 17) quoted former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew as saying: "You take away all the trees... you have a darker and uglier Singapore."

It was Mr Lee's vision to make Singapore a garden city. It was also reported that the National Parks Board will get the public to plant 1,963 trees to mark 50 years of greening Singapore.

This is ironic as just recently, about 200 trees outside my HDB block in Pasir Ris Drive 3 were cut down and the land levelled for a condominium project.

Further up the road, another 150 trees were felled for the building of four condos.

Of course, one may reason that the developers of these condos will plant some trees and flowering plants to beautify the environment, but to chop down about 350 trees that have taken years to grow is too much.

Roland Scharenguivel