Need to incorporate more green living spaces: Grace Fu

Olivia Siong Channel NewsAsia 4 Jun 14;

SINGAPORE: There is a need to enhance the living environment through environmentally sustainable green features, otherwise known as Active, Beautiful, Clean, (ABC) Waters designs.

This was said by Second Environment and Water Resources Minister Grace Fu at a seminar on ABC Waters on Wednesday.

“There is great potential in this area and we need to build up our capabilities quickly,” she said.

“We are familiar with the green spaces and are now seeing more blue spaces incorporated, with blue spaces being water bodies, the reservoirs, the canals, or even just spaces within our living environment like condominiums and HDB estates.

“This will help us create many more green and blue lungs all over the island and this is an important part where we combine the blue and green into a very integrated cityscape that we have in Singapore."

Seventeen projects from the private and public sectors were awarded the ABC Waters certification on Wednesday.

Nine of these were from the private sector -- the largest number since the scheme was launched in 2010.

The third edition of the ABC Waters Design guidelines was also launched, which includes more local examples and takes into account the latest research and development technology.

- CNA/ec