The_King

A 68-year-old car driver who was in a traffic accident with two other vehicles had allegedly suffered a heart attack and subsequently died in hospital. The police told Stomp that they alerted to an accident involving a bus and two cars at the junction of Punggol East and Punggol Central on Saturday (Feb 20), at 1.58pm. "A 68-year-old male driver was unconscious when conveyed to Sengkang General Hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead," police added. According to Shin Min Daily News, the driver died after suffering cardiac arrest. However, it is unclear if the cardiac arrest occurred before or after the accident. A resident in the vicinity said he heard a loud crash from his home and immediately went downstairs to help. A female doctor who happened to be passing by the scene also tried to resuscitate the driver, but was unsuccessful. Police investigations are ongoing.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 22): Karex Bhd saw its net profit grow 27 times to RM2.79 million in the second quarter ended Dec 31, 2020, from RM102,000 a year earlier, thanks to strong condom sales and noteworthy personal lubricant sales. Revenue rose 6.1% to a record high of RM115.75 million, from RM109.09 million previously, the group's bourse filing showed. "In spite of the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, condom sales volumes to both the tender and commercial markets continued to expand," said Karex. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, however, the second-quarter net profit was 37.5% lower compared with RM4.46 million in the first quarter, despite a 13.8% increase in revenue from RM101.73 million. This, the group said, was due to a less favourable sales mix coupled with higher Covid-19-related costs and one-off corporate exercise expenses. For the cumulative six-month period ended Dec 31, 2020, Karex reported a net profit of RM7.24 million, versus a net loss of RM65,000 in the previous corresponding period due to a more favourable sales mix. Revenue for the period grew 6.18% to RM217.48 million from RM204.82 million, on the back of stronger condom sales in the commercial market, particularly in the Asia and Americas regions. On prospects, the group remains confident that it is uniquely poised to overcome the operational hurdles, arising from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, in order to take advantage of potential opportunities presented by the renewed global emphasis on hygiene and disease prevention. Karex noted that condoms remain an essential tool for family planning as well as preventing the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. "Our manufacturing experience, cost competitiveness and breath of offerings are compelling competitive advantages that will allow us to capture orders within the condom space that has been shifting from a government subsidised model to one that is more commercial in nature during recent times," said Karex. It added that its branded segment is also expected to expand into new regions during the year, enabling Karex to continue to capture a greater share of the value within the industry. Karex's shares closed half a sen or 0.66% lower at 75 sen today, valuing the group at RM790.1 million. Over the past year, the counter has grown 66.7% from 45 sen.

Not long after Japan ramped up its fight against the coronavirus last spring, Nazuna Hashimoto started suffering panic attacks. The gym in Osaka where she worked as a personal trainer suspended operations, and her friends were staying home at the recommendation of the government. Afraid to be alone, she would call her boyfriend of just a few months and ask him to come over. Even then, she was sometimes unable to stop crying. Her depression, which had been diagnosed earlier in the year, spiraled. “The world I was living in was already small,” she said. “But I felt it become smaller.” By July, Ms Hashimoto could see no way out, and she tried to kill herself. Her boyfriend found her, called an ambulance and saved her life. She is speaking out publicly about her experience now because she wants to remove the stigma associated with talking about mental health in Japan. "The world I was living in was already small," Nazuna Hashimoto of Osaka, Japan, says of her struggle with depression last year. "But I felt it become smaller." New York Times While the pandemic has been difficult for many in Japan, the pressures have been compounded for women. As in many countries, more women have lost their jobs. In Tokyo, the country’s largest metropolis, about 1 in 5 women live alone, and the exhortations to stay home and avoid visiting family have exacerbated feelings of isolation. Other women have struggled with the deep disparities in the division of housework and child care during the work-from-home era, or suffered from a rise in domestic violence and sexual assault. The rising psychological and physical toll of the pandemic has been accompanied by a worrisome spike in suicide among women. In Japan, 6,976 women took their lives last year, nearly 15 per cent more than in 2019. It was the first year-over-year increase in more than a decade. Nazuna Hashimoto at her home in Osaka, Japan, on 10 February, 2021. New York Times Each suicide — and suicide attempt — represents an individual tragedy rooted in a complex constellation of reasons. But the increase among women, which extended across seven straight months last year, has concerned government officials and mental health experts who have worked to reduce what had been among the highest rates of suicide in the world. (While more men than women killed themselves last year, fewer men did so than in 2019. Overall, suicides increased by slightly less than 4 per cent) The situation has reinforced long-standing challenges for Japan. Talking about mental health issues, or seeking help, is still difficult in a society that emphasises stoicism. The pandemic has also amplified the stresses in a culture that is grounded in social cohesion and relies on peer pressure to drive compliance with government requests to wear masks and practice good hygiene. Women, who are often designated as primary caregivers, at times fear public humiliation if they somehow fail to uphold these measures or get infected with the coronavirus. A woman retrieves mail in the lobby of an apartment building in Osaka, Japan, on 20 February, 2021. New York Times “Women bear the burden of doing virus prevention,” said Yuki Nishimura, a director of the Japanese Association of Mental Health Services. “Women have to look after their families’ health, and they have to look after cleanliness and can get looked down upon if they are not doing it right.” In one widely publicised account, a 30-something woman who had been recuperating from the coronavirus at home killed herself. The Japanese media seized on her note expressing anguish over the possibility that she had infected others and caused them trouble, while experts questioned whether shame may have driven her to despair. “Unfortunately the current tendency is to blame the victim,” said Michiko Ueda, an associate professor of political science at Waseda University in Tokyo who has researched suicide. Ms Ueda found in surveys last year that 40 per cent of respondents worried about social pressure if they contracted the virus. “We don’t basically support you if you are not ‘one of us,’” said Ms Ueda. “And if you have mental health issues you are not one of us.” Experts have also worried that a succession of Japanese film and television stars who took their own lives last year may have spurred a string of copycat suicides. After Yuko Takeuchi, a popular, award-winning actress, took her life in late September, the number of women taking their own lives in the following month jumped by close to 90 per cent compared to the previous year. Nao, a blogger whose last name has been withheld to protect her privacy, at her home in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan on 3 February, 2021. Shortly after Ms Takeuchi’s death, Nao, 30, started writing a blog to chronicle her lifelong battles with depression and eating disorders. She wrote candidly about her suicide attempt three years earlier. Such openness about mental health struggles is still relatively rare in Japan. The celebrity suicides prompted Nao, whose family name has been withheld at her request to protect her privacy, to reflect on how she might have reacted if she had hit her emotional nadir during the pandemic. “When you’re at home alone, you feel very isolated from society and that feeling is really painful,” she said. “Just imagining if I was in that situation right now, I think the suicide attempt would have happened a lot earlier, and probably I think I would have succeeded.” A worker waits for customers at a Tokyo restaurant on 19 March, 2020. New York Times During the pandemic, women have suffered disproportionate job losses. They made up the bulk of employees within the industries most affected by infection control measures, including restaurants, bars and hotels. About half of all working women hold part-time or contract jobs, and when business flatlined, companies cut those employees first. In the first nine months of last year, 1.44 million such workers lost their jobs, more than half of them women. Although Nao quit her consulting job voluntarily to seek psychiatric treatment, she remembers feeling wracked with insecurity, no longer able to pay her rent. When she and her then-fiancé decided to accelerate their wedding plans, her father accused her of being selfish. “I just felt like I lost everything,” she recalled. Those feelings, she said, triggered the depression that led to her suicide attempt. After spending some time in a psychiatric hospital and continuing medication, her self-confidence improved. She found a four-day-a-week job working in the digital operation of a magazine group and is now able to manage the workload. Women walking in Tokyos business district on 8 September, 2020. About one in five women in the city live alone. NYTNS In the past, suicide rates in Japan have spiked during times of economic crisis, including after the burst of the property-based bubble in the 1990s and the global downturn in 2008. During those periods, it was men who were most affected by job losses and who killed themselves at higher rates. Historically, suicides among men in Japan have outnumbered those among women by a factor of at least 2-1. In Ms Hashimoto’s case, fears of financial dependence contributed to her sense of hopelessness. Even when the gym where she worked as a personal trainer reopened, she did not feel emotionally stable enough to return. She then felt guilty about relying on her boyfriend, emotionally and financially. She had met Nozomu Takeda, 23, who works in the construction industry, at the gym, where he was her training client. They had been dating only three months when she confided that her depression was becoming untenable. Unable to afford therapy and suffering severe anxiety attacks, she said she identified with others who “felt very pushed into a corner.” When she attempted suicide, all she could think about was freeing Mr Takeda from the responsibility of taking care of her. “I wanted to take the burden off him,” she said. Families walking in Tokyo's Ueno Park on 23 February, 2021. AAP Even those who have not lost jobs may have come under extra stress. Before the pandemic, working from home was extremely rare in Japan. Then women suddenly had to worry not only about pleasing their bosses from afar, but also about juggling new safety and hygiene protocols for their children, or protecting elderly parents who were more vulnerable to the virus. The expectations to excel did not change, but their contact with friends and other support networks diminished. “If they can’t get together with other people or share their stresses with other people, then it’s not really surprising” that they are feeling pressured or depressed, said Kumiko Nemoto, a professor of sociology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Having survived her own suicide attempt, Ms Hashimoto now wants to help others learn to talk through their emotional problems and connect them to professionals. Mr Takeda says he appreciates how Ms Hashimoto speaks openly about her depression. “She is the type of person who really shares what she needs and what is wrong,” he said. “So it was very easy for me to support her because she vocalises what she needs.”

part 1 that i post last time

me is easy to convert, very very easy to convert me to combat waste How? so easy right?

The campaign, titled "Colonel’s Guarantee", will run from Feb. 24, 2021. It allows customers to request a one-for-one exchange if they are unsatisfied with their Original Recipe or Hot & Crispy Chicken — simply head over to the counter for a new serving. For this campaign, KFC’s cooks have completed "intensive re-training" to fulfil the Colonel’s Guarantee that their fried chicken is "fresh, tender, juicy and good" at any and every outlet. How to exchange Here's how you can get your portion exchanged. Dine-in: Bring the uneaten/ partially eaten chicken to the counter Fill out a feedback form by scanning a QR Code Takeaway: Basically the same thing, except you'll have to return to the store on the same day. Exchange must be made in person at the same store of purchase, on the same day of purchase Show your receipt and the uneaten/partially eaten chicken to KFC staff at the counter, and fill out a feedback form by scanning a QR Code Show the completed feedback form to KFC staff to get your replacement chicken

https://www.zaobao.com/znews/singapore/story20210223-1126255

SINGAPORE - Patients who have recently taken the Covid-19 vaccine are advised to reschedule their yearly mammogram screenings as the presence of swollen lymph nodes, which is one of the known side effects of the jab, could be mistakenly identified as a sign of breast cancer. Doctors have advised them to move their mammogram screenings to either before receiving their Covid-19 vaccine or a few weeks after their second dose, to avoid confusion. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can cause swollen lymph nodes on the neck or arms, though it usually gets better by itself in a week or so, according to the Ministry of Health. Dr Tan Yah Yuen, a breast surgeon at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said the recent Covid-19 vaccination may cause swollen underarm lymph nodes on the vaccinated arm, which could lead doctors to "falsely suspect" an early sign of cancer. "If the clinical suspicion is that the swollen lymph node is due to the vaccination and not breast cancer, then a repeat ultrasound can be done in two to three months to follow up on the swollen lymph nodes for resolution," she added. So far, she has seen two patients, both healthcare workers, who had their mammogram and ultrasound screenings after receiving their Covid-19 vaccinations. Both had enlarged lymph nodes on their underarm where the jab was given. Since there were no other "suspicious signs" of breast cancer, the hospital will follow up with a repeat ultrasound. All other patients who just received their Covid-19 vaccinations have been informed to reschedule their check-ups, said Dr Tan, noting that the American Society of Breast Surgeons has recommended that women should consider scheduling mammogram or ultrasound checks before taking the first vaccine dose, or four to six weeks after the second dose. Women who are in cancer remission should also discuss with their doctor the appropriateness of rescheduling their mammogram or ultrasound checks, and they should seek to have their vaccine jab on the opposite arm if possible to avoid false alarms of cancer recurrence, she advised. Dr Ong Kong Wee, medical director of K W Ong Breast and General Surgery Clinic, said the concern over enlarged or swollen lymph nodes in the underarm is that it could be a sign of breast cancer spreading to the lymph nodes. But this could also be due to infection or autoimmune diseases. He also advised patients to schedule their mammogram screenings before going for their vaccine as this would prevent them from being subjected to more "extensive and invasive tests", such as a needle biopsy. Agreeing, infectious diseases expert Paul Tambyah, who is also president of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, said that it would be prudent to schedule mammograms at least two weeks after receiving the vaccine, or before the vaccination to "avoid unnecessary anxiety". He added that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine trial found that there were 64 cases of swollen lymph nodes among the vaccine recipients, versus six cases who had received the placebo. Both groups had more than 20,000 people each. The report from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on the international trial had also stated that the lymph node swelling lasted an average of 10 days, added Prof Tambyah. However, he noted that the trial recipients were not specifically asked if they had experienced lymph node swelling, so the figures from the trial might be under reported. On the other hand, results from the Moderna vaccine trial conducted in the US had found that 14 per cent, or 2,090 of the 14,677 vaccine recipients had developed swollen lymph nodes, against 3.9 per cent of the placebo recipients. These typically lasted for around seven days after the vaccination. Professor Dale Fisher, a senior infectious diseases specialist at the National University Hospital, said it would not be surprising to find swollen lymph nodes after a vaccine jab as it is a major site for the body's immune response. He also advised separating both medical procedures, where possible, in case one affects the other.

i hate this. expensive and pure carbo food, i rather eat chicken

failed, have to wait till next week or 2

Limbang Shopping Centre Has Been Under Upgrading Since Sep, Will Have Peranakan Shophouse Façade Residents of Choa Chu Kang will be familiar with Limbang Shopping Centre, known for its distinctive Peranakan-inspired sloping roof and shop archways. It’s also a popular place for residents to get their daily essentials and eat out. Source However, the complex is set to become more popular as it’s currently undergoing a revamp that will give it a wider array of shops and food and beverage (F&B) outlets. Source Residents can look forward to the upgraded mall being completed by the 3rd quarter of 2022. Revamp announced in 2019 Limbang Shopping Centre, as it was, wasn’t too shabby, with 33 shops, a food court, wet market and supermarket. It even had a McDonald’s. Source However, even though the current village-like design has a rustic appeal, the garish colours might strike some as a bit outdated. Source In Sep 2019, Mr Lawrence Wong, MP for Marsiling-Yee GRC, announced in a speech that the shopping centre would be upgraded in 2020. Source The upgraded mall will more shops and more F&B options, he added. Design will incorporate Peranakan shophouse façade According to building developer CPG Consultants, the new Limbang Shopping Centre will incorporate a Peranakan shophouse façade in its design so shoppers can “relive the old days”. Source It kinda reminds us of the shops in Changi Airport Terminal 4‘s transit area. From the artist’s impressions of the development, it appears that the main entrance will be completely changed from its current sloping roof to a more contemporary glass structure. Source The periphery of the mall will also be brushed up to include gardens and outdoor seating. Source Visitors will be able to walk through the landscaped gardens to access the shops facing the road. Source The company also said it had received a Certificate of Merit for Design at the HDB Design Awards 2020 for its work on the project. Upgrading was pushed back to Sep 2020 However, in a Facebook post in Jun 2020, Mr Wong, who’s the MP for Limbang ward, said the upgrading would be pushed back. While it was slated to begin in Jun, the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting ‘Circuit Breaker’ caused a shutdown in construction activities. Source The Education Minister also sought residents’ understanding that the project might take “a bit longer to materialise”. However in Sep, the upgrading started in earnest, with many tenants moving to temporary container offices. While 4 tenants, including NTUC FairPrice and the food court, remained open, the wet market had to close. McDonald’s, unfortunately, has also closed down. Here’s a list of tenants who’re still open: Source No change to estimated completion date You might have noticed that the poster estimates that the upgrading would be completed in the 3rd quarter of 2022. However, given that the construction started 3 months late, and Mr Wong had said that the timeline had to be pushed back, residents may be wondering if the new mall will be opened later. Responding to enquiries from MS News, the Housing and Development Board’s Properties & Land Group said there’s no updated timeline for the completion of the shopping centre. Thus, if the projected completion is 3Q 2022, that’s when it will be completed for now. Source Of course, as Mr Wong had said the revised timeline will be finalised soon, there’s always the possibility of updates closer to the completion date. Breathing new life into Limbang While there’s still more than a year to wait, we’re certain that residents’ patience will be rewarded with a spanking-new mall with a wide range of places to dine out. Let’s look forward to more information on the new shops and F&B outlets that will be coming to the neighbourhood. Hopefully, McDonald’s will come back too.

hope on Thursday can go walk

for ppl like him, they are always waiting

https://www.facebook.com/SgRoadsaccidentcom/videos/872782159959228

[FOOD ALERT] SFA has directed a recall of all batches of “Singlong Brand” Ground Peanut Powder with Sugar products. This is due to the detection of aflatoxins at levels exceeding the maximum limits stated in the Singapore Food Regulations during a routine sampling of the product. Consumers who have purchased the implicated product are advised not to consume it. While occasional ingestion of food contaminated with aflatoxins is not expected to cause appreciable health risk, those who have consumed the implicated product and have concerns about their health should seek medical advice. Consumers may contact their point of purchase for enquiries. Details of the products are as pictured. https://www.facebook.com/SGFoodAgency/photos/a.123453477731188/3803760029700496

https://www.facebook.com/100007688598813/videos/2906998382899753

can go inside already?

What will be lost, and what has already changed in one of Singapore’s oldest districts? Residents and business owners share their stories with the programme On The Red Dot. SINGAPORE: When Tanglin Halt resident Venkatachalam Gomathi, 57, used to work late at the office, her neighbour made a point of checking whether her daughter was home alone. It is one of her precious memories of the next-door auntie, all of 97 years old. Venkatachalam, who has lived in Tanglin Halt with her husband for 25 years, said: “And during Chinese New Year, her children would come and give a hongbao to my daughter … Very nice. Then slowly, one by one, they all left.” Ngern Kah Cheng has been in Tanglin Halt even longer. The 72-year-old has been selling braised duck noodles there since 1969. Starting out as a street hawker. (Photo courtesy of Ngern Kah Cheng.) Her first stall was next to a rubbish collection centre, and she had to stop serving food every time the truck came by to collect the rubbish. Her brother, Ngern Jwee Chye, 68, later joined her as a hawker at Tanglin Halt Market and discovered the area’s “kampung spirit”. “Everyone takes care of each other,” said the laksa seller. His sister’s husband, 72-year-old Chua Ngen Leng, added: “Back then, our customers were the young folks. Now, they’ve become fathers and grandfathers. They bring their grandchildren here to eat. That’s almost three, four generations.” There is a collage of memories that many residents and visitors will have of Tanglin Halt after its 31 blocks of flats, seven commercial blocks and two markets and food centres are demolished from the end of this year. About to disappear. It is the biggest project under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme since 1999, and the programme On The Red Dot discovers what will soon be missed. FOOD HERITAGE On the list are some famous food stalls that have helped to put Singapore’s hawker culture on the Unesco Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Wei Yi Laksa and Prawn Noodles, which Jwee Chye set up at Tanglin Halt Market in the 1990s, is considered one of Singapore’s most popular laksa stalls today. The queues start from as early as 6am. “Many traditional dishes were slowly disappearing, so after my mum taught me, I added my own flair,” he said. “She didn’t have an education, but when it came to cooking, she was number one.” The Ngern siblings. Another stall there is Tanglin Halt Original Peanut Pancake, opened in 1965 by the father-in-law of the current owner. Their pancake stand outs as having a distinctive flavour and a denser and chewier texture than the ones Singaporeans usually eat — and costs only 80 cents apiece. But owner Teng Kiong Seng is now in his mid-70s and has not yet found a successor, nor does he know the future of his stall after the market is demolished. He hopes, however, to continue making his famous snack until he is about 80 years old. WATCH: Taste these traditional snacks at Tanglin Halt before they’re gone (2:22) Gabrielle Kennedy, 23, a customer at the market, said: “With every stall being so different, they represent different cuisines, different cultures, and that’s just what Singapore is. So if it was to go away, it would be very sad.” FROM ICONS TO ARTEFACTS Some of Tanglin Halt’s icons are already a distant memory: The now defunct railway line, the Van Houten chocolate factory and the Setron television factory, which manufactured Singapore’s first locally-made TV sets. Tanglin Halt’s rows of 10-storey blocks with diagonal staircases — completed between 1962 and 1963 as one of the five initial districts within Queenstown, Singapore’s first satellite estate — have also become an iconic image. Doctor and food blogger Leslie Tay remembers visiting his maternal grandparents there and what his mother “always” told him: Their unit had “so many people” that she “got married quickly to get out of the house”. A few of the residents have moved out already. He now feels “quite sad”, although Kiong Seng told him they “shouldn’t complain”. The hawker said: “To transform the entire area and upgrade the buildings is a must … This is part of Singapore’s future development.” Still, with having to leave it all behind, many residents and business owners have sentimental feelings about their personal connections in the district. “It’s a pity. I’m very emotionally invested in this place,” said 71-year-old Alice Tan, the owner of Alice’s Hair and Beauty Shop, which has been around for 50 years. All will not be lost, however. Museum @ My Queenstown, located in Tanglin Halt, contains artefacts from bygone industries and buildings that were once part of the neighbourhood. About 150 volunteers help to manage and curate this museum. Non-profit organisation My Community opened the museum in 2018 and has also collected stories and old photographs from residents, to be preserved at the new museum in Margaret Drive. VILLAGE CHIEF Tanglin Halt even has a village chief, as Alice Lee, 73, is fondly known as — or whom Leslie referred to as the “queen of Queenstown”. She has lived there for 53 years now and is one of the head volunteers with the Queenstown Residents’ Committee. Asked about the story behind her “village chief” moniker, she said: “I used to help (residents) keep their keys in my house. Whenever they needed their key, (if) they’d lost a key or anything, they’d come to my house. “One of the uncles lost (his) key. He had to call the key maker at midnight to come and open the door. They charged S$80. From then on, I said you can come over to my house and get your keys.” WATCH: The full episode — Tanglin Halt: Bidding farewell to some of Singapore's oldest flats (23:10) Residents could also get a nice view from her windows, which look out on greenery. Every day at 5pm, she takes a photograph of the scenery. “The view every day is different. The sky, everything, is different,” she said. “Then I can keep (the photos) … for memories.” Watch this episode of On The Red Dot here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Friday at 9.30pm. Source: CNA/dp

SINGAPORE: JTC Corporation said on Monday (Feb 22) it accepts its “supervisory responsibilities” in the case of a Kranji woodland site that was partially cleared by mistake, adding that it is conducting an internal review of its processes to see what could have led to the error. The agency said last Tuesday that plots of land had been “erroneously cleared” by a contractor before a commissioned environmental study could be completed, prompting criticism from nature groups and conservation advocates. The area is where the Agri-Food Innovation Park will be developed. It is located along a green artery known as the Rail Corridor. At a media conference on Monday, JTC said that the site to be developed measures 25ha, of which 11.9ha has been cleared, while 13.1ha of greenery remains. Specifically, based on preliminary findings, the land that was erroneously cleared measured about 4.5ha, or the equivalent of about six football fields. JTC Corp’s CEO Tan Boon Khai said an overall investigation is being conducted into how the land was cleared by mistake, with the full cooperation of parties involved in developing the site. “Regardless, as the project site developer, JTC does have overall responsibility for the site. We do not run away from this responsibility. We will not, nor do we intend to,” said Mr Tan. “JTC is now undertaking an internal review of some of its internal processes and procedures to look at whether there are any shortcomings that could have resulted in some of these issues happening on the ground,” he added. “And when that review is completed, we will certainly be looking at how we can improve. We do strive to do better. We acknowledge that we can do better, and we must.” LAND WAS MOSTLY SCRUBLAND The site, which was home to part of the former KTM railway line, did not require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as it was “not close to any sensitive nature areas”, said JTC. Most of the site comprised “disused scrubland” with a few scattered large trees, most of which were Albizia trees, it noted. JTC added that the land is now dominated by non-native Albizia regrowth. The trees had sprouted over time, after the railway service stopped and the land was returned to Singapore in 2011. Giving a timeline of developments, JTC said that although an EIA was not needed, a flora baseline study was completed in July 2019. A further fauna baseline survey, as well as an Environmental Monitoring and Management Programme (EMMP), were later required in August 2020. This was because a new drain, proposed as part of the building plan, would release discharge into Sungei Pang Sua, creating a potential risk of pollution caused by sediment runoff. May 2, 2019: CPG Consultants (CPG) engaged to carry out planning and design works Jul 22, 2019: CPG submitted Building Plan for tree felling to NParks with a tree survey plan Jul 29, 2019: CPG completed flora baseline study Aug 29, 2019: NParks issued a Written Direction to approve CPG’s urgent request for tree felling in plots 4, 5 and 9 Mar 2, 2020: With this approval, clearance started for plot 9 Aug 21, 2020: CPG’s resubmission of a Building Plan showed a new proposed drain that would discharge into Sungei Pang Sua. NParks then required a fauna baseline study and EMMP August to September 2020: Site clearance continued for plot 8, 10-1, 10-7 and road 2, while the fauna baseline study was being called Sep 29, 2020: NParks issued Building Plan clearance for tree felling, subject to conditions of the fauna study and EMMP Nov 3, 2020: CPG asked NParks for permission to clear more plots. It only approved the partial clearance of plot 1 on Nov 6, and the plot was cleared. Dec 15, 2020: Plots 4 and 5 started being cleared based on the approval from August 2019 23 Dec, 2020: The fauna baseline study and EMMP consultant was engaged End-Dec 2020 to Jan 13, 2021: Contractor cleared further areas, measuring 4.5ha (in red) Jan 13, 2021: JTC’s project manager discovered the further clearing. All clearance works suspended and JTC started an internal investigation Jan 15, 2021: Stern warning issued to contractor. Investigations still under way Feb 16, 2021: JTC released media statement and contractor apologised WHAT NOW? All work on site continue to be suspended, JTC said. It added that the fauna baseline study and EMMP are estimated to be completed in April 2021. Thereafter, JTC said it will engage stakeholders on the study’s findings. The results of the study will also be publicly shared. Separately, NParks is conducting investigations to see if there were breaches of the Parks and Trees Act and Wildlife Act. Commissioner of Parks and Recreation at NParks, Dr Leong Chee Chiew, stressed that assumptions should not be made ahead of this because penalties under these laws are “not small”, with fines of up to S$50,000 and even the possibility of six months’ imprisonment. Aside from investigations by JTC and NParks, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing and National Development Minister Desmond Lee have also ordered a review on inter-agency coordination. Source: CNA/cl(gs)