Chee Soon Juan: Why all this clearing of forests for housing if the government is not planning for 6.9 million (population)?

Opposition leader Chee Soon Juan questioned the ruling People’s Action Party’s “game plan” for Singapore’s population, linking it to the recent news, including that of three officials being charged over the “erroneous” clearing of a forested area at Kranji.

In January of last year, state-owned industrial property developer JTC Corporation discovered that its contractor had mistakenly cleared a forested area at Kranji. The news sparked a backlash among the public, with many calling for action against those responsible.

On Friday (Apr 22), it was reported that three individuals had been charged with causing the illegal clearance of trees in the area, including two JTC Corporation officers.

Dr Chee, the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, said that he and other party leaders had gone to Pang Sua Woodland yesterday “to take a look at the area the authorities want to develop for housing,” linking a story about this from The Straits Times from Apr 16.

“As with the other last remnants of wooded areas in Singapore (eg. Bukit Batok, Clementi, Dover, Tengah), the PAP has either already cleared, earmarked or refused to rule out development projects. 

(And horror of horrors, a large tract of Kranji forest was cleared “by mistake”. Three officials are now charged for the error. This still leaves many questions unanswered which I will take up at another time.),” he added.

He claimed that this is part of “the determination to destroy our greenery for continued expansion of HDB towns” which he added is what the SDP “has been and continues to be concerned about: What is the PAP’s game-plan in terms of our population growth?”

Dr Chee added that while Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan had said during the 2020 General Election that the government does not intend on increasing the population size, “Citizens continue to remain skeptical about the promise. Why all this clearing of forests for housing if the government is not planning for 6.9 million?” 

The SDP head also underlined how “greenery and forests” are “essential” for Singaporeans’ physical and mental well-being.

“As squeezed and as stressful as life is now for the people, the situation is set to get worse as concrete is poured into the few remaining green spaces we have left in this country,” he added, posting links to SDP’s alternative proposals for population growth, housing, and climate change proposals, which may be found on the SDP site. /TISG

JTC should bear responsibility for Kranji woodlands erroneous clearing, says former deputy CEO of HDB