SINGAPORE: A man took to social media due to the loud noise from road constructions being carried out near his home. He expressed frustration at finding out whom to call to ask for help.
Mr BK Tan wrote on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Sunday (Oct 22) that the noise decibels from the road constructions at 3 o’clock in the morning reached over 65 within 150 meters of a residential area and asked, “Is it allowed?”
He added that he called the National Environment Agency (NEA) a few times but to no avail. He also said that by Oct 23 (Monday), the agency replied to say that as far as it understands, the roadworks are “critical infrastructure diversions” that need to be completed. This would explain why the work did not even stop between midnight and five o’clock in the morning.
However, he wrote that the project team said that based on prior communications, the roadworks must stop at 11:00 and that it has received no further updates. And from the LTA, there have been no replies as of Oct 23.
Mr Tan also posted a link to a page on the NEA website on Construction Noise Control, which explains how much noise is allowed based on the time of day, the type of building exposed to the noise and whether the noise is made on a Sunday or a public holiday.
He also posted the questions below:
“Question: NEA’s regulations apply across other agencies, (LTA)??
Question: Does LTA aware of NEA’s noise regulations?
Question : Does LTA still approve works if they aware of the Noise’s regulations?
Question: To Meet critical milestone of the project, rules (as above) can be ‘negotiated’?
Question: What avenues (besides) for concerned resident to go other than MP and PMO?”
Mr Tan is not the only resident who has expressed unhappiness with noise from road constructions. In January of this year, residents said they were experiencing distress over the continuous “terrible noise” due to the North-South Corridor construction works.
Several Singapore residents described the difficulties they experience due to the construction, with one 24-year-old having to “deal with the pounding and whirring of machines” as he works from home. Calling the noise “terrible,” he added that he needed to close his windows and curtains to block the noise.
Last year, a Marymount resident went to great lengths to document the noise level near his residence that has kept him awake at night, to the point of buying a noise level monitor and documenting their nightly ordeal on TikTok.
His TikTok account appears to have been created for this purpose, as the resident goes by Noisymarymount on the platform. Its descriptor is “Noise due to the construction of North South corridor along Marymount.” /TISG