Lip Kwok Wai and Olivia Siong Channel NewsAsia 27 Sep 13;
SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has said the Tampines Eco Green park at Tampines North will remain untouched for now.
This is despite it being zoned as a residential area under the Urban Redevelopment Authority's 2008 Masterplan.
Bound by Tampines Avenue 12 and Tampines North with an area of 36.5 hectares, the Eco Green park takes up 15 per cent of the land at Tampines North.
Responding to queries from MediaCorp, the HDB said there are no immediate development plans for the area, adding that it intends to keep it as a park for as long as possible.
The HDB unveiled its plans for the new housing area in August, but property analysts said the HDB's current plans to build 21,000 homes on the rest of the land should be sufficient to meet existing demand.
Director of Chris International, Chris Koh, explained: "If you don't put aside green areas, or keep eco in that estate, what's going to happen (is) it's just going to look overly built-up.
“If it's all built-up, there's nothing more you can build. So possibly they're thinking of putting a few green areas aside, so if ever one day we need to redevelop, we need to, for example expand, build more, at least you have these sites you can consider."
- CNA/gn
