More than 35,000 rodent burrows treated by authorities from Jan to Nov last year

Channel NewsAsia 20 jan 15;

SINGAPORE: More than 35,000 rodent burrows have been detected and treated by authorities in the first 11 months of 2014, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu said on Tuesday (Jan 20).

Ms Fu was responding to a question by Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC, in Parliament on vectors and whether there are new measures to bring them under control.

This comes after Bukit Batok's rat infestation problem came to light last month, when a video taken by a resident went viral. More cases of rat infestations were reported in different parts of Singapore in recent weeks.

Ms Fu said the number of rodent burrows found reflects how important it is for the owners of premises, especially operators of food establishments, to practise good housekeeping habits. She said the key to rodent control is to eliminate food sources.

“Increased sighting of rodents - I think from the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) point of view, it is still down to the very basic operations. In other words, keep the source of food in check, ensure that the available food sources for rodents are not there - I think that's the best way to eradicate the infestation,” she said.

"And also I think it's really about enforcement as well. So we have to step up on inspections, step up on operations and again, I would like to emphasise that actually we need all the stakeholders, from food stall operators, restaurant operators to companies that are in charge of cleaning commercial properties and so on, to really step up and play a part in ensuring that we have a hygienic and clean environment for everyone,” Ms Fu added.

DENGUE CONTINUES TO BE AN ISSUE

Ms Fu added that dengue continues to be a problem. She said more than 16,000 mosquito breeding sites have been found in the first 11 months of last year. However, there was a drop of 19 per cent compared to the same period in 2013.

Amongst the new measures introduced last year, Ms Fu said NEA piloted the Gravitrap surveillance programme in high-risk areas.

Gravitraps are black cylindrical containers with sticky surfaces which will trap female Aedes mosquitoes looking for water surfaces to lay eggs. Ms Fu said it is estimated about 32,000 mosquitoes have been caught in the Gravitraps.

She said NEA has also tightened enforcement efforts in high-risk areas like construction sites. Since January 2014, 120 stop-work orders have been issued to construction sites to ensure proper measures are in place before work resumed.

- CNA/dl