Large Areas of Kranji Woodlands Forest Have Been Mistakenly Cleared, “Stern Warning” Issued to Firm

By
Ashley Seek
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In Singapore, you’ll notice something almost everywhere you go.

And no, we don’t just mean Safe-Entry check-ins.

The answer is actually trees.

Overall, there are roughly two million trees around the nation, which is pretty crazy considering Singapore isn’t that big. Betcha didn’t expect that, huh?

So you best bet if there’s something threatening the green of this City in a Garden, the authorities will take this seriously.

Large Areas of Kranji Woodlands Forest Have Been Mistakenly Cleared, “Stern Warning” Issued to Firm

Imagine clearing out an entire forest section by accident.

That was exactly what state-owned industrial property developer JTC found on 13 Jan.

A contracting firm known as Huationg had “erroneously” deforested large portions of a forest in the Kranji area.

Brice Li, a nature enthusiast, uploaded photos to Facebook on 14 Feb to compare how the forest looked like in May 2019 versus in Feb 2021.

In the picture below, you can take a closer look at how much land was cleared along the sides of the Rail Corridor.

A survey was done by Nature Society Singapore and showed around 47 species of birds lived in this forest area.

We can only imagine the extent of the damage that has been done.

Originally Meant For An Agri-Food Innovation Park

On Tuesday (Feb 16), JTC said that parts of the forest were marked for clearance.

This was to make way for an Agri-Food Innovation Park that would be part of the Sungei Kadut Eco-District.

JTC engaged an environmental specialist to carry out a biodiversity baseline study in December last year.

This was to work out an environmental monitoring and management plan (EMMP) for specified plots of land within the area.

They were even going to engage nature groups to discuss development plans when the clearing was done.

However, JTC discovered on Jan 13 that that Huationg had cleared the land even before the baseline study and EMMP were finished.

Huationg was made to immediately cease all clearing works and has since apologised and are currently working with JTC to investigate the lapse.

JTC gave Huationg a “stern warning” and has taken this incident very seriously.

The former still intends to finish the baseline study and EMMP, continuing to work with various stakeholders to ensure plans will be carried out in an environmentally responsible and sensitive manner.

These include stakeholders such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority and NParks.

Both are aimed to finish around April this year.

Salvaging the Situation

Mr Leong Kwok Peng, who chairs the Nature Society Singapore’s conservation committee, has also spoken on this situation.

He mentioned how he’s never seen such a huge mistake despite working with developers in the past.

The society, in a Facebook post, also commented on how “shocking and dreadful” the situation was.

However, Mr Leong said that it’s also worth looking at what can be saved from this incident.

He hopes that the already narrow vegetation around Rail Corridor can be widened through replantation.

And considering that Singapore has set an ambitious goal for itself with the Singapore Green Plan 2030, it has become all the more important to not be mean and just go green.

Feature Image: Facebook (Brice Li)

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Ashley Seek
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