Draft #1 Summary_Reader Response: Cross Island Investigation
According to Neo (2018) the article states that “Nature Group Seeks More Information on Impact of Cross Island Site Investigation”, nature group wants to know about the environmental impact caused by the drilling works from the Land Transport Authority(LTA) and welcomes the public to submit any queries about the impact to the LTA. The drilling 16 boreholes were done to find a suitable condition for the line to be constructed, either tunnelling under nature reserve or skirting around it. Environmental impact assessment was done after the drilling work and it shows moderate impact if alleviation measures were taken. When being questioned whether the statement is true, LTA remains quiet. LTA also fail to provide frequency of animal sightings before and after the work done. As LTA fails to provide sufficient information, it worries the nature group thus questions are being compiled and hope LTA will provide assurance and address their concern about the environmental impacts..
I fully agree with why nature lovers are compiling questions to the LTA, due to the lack of information provided by the authority. LTA did not provide sufficient details regarding about the cons or impact it caused to the environment. Hence many are questioning whether LTA will be transparent to the public.
First of all, LTA are about to construct Cross Island MRT Line which will be cutting through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve(CCNR) and Macritchie forest. The purpose of having nature reserve is protecting flora and fauna. By constructing CRL, LTA contradicts the purpose of having nature reserves. By having a construction site, toxic material spillage is inevitable, the spillage will seep into the soil and travel downstream and poison frail fauna and flora. Not only that, digging borehole will seriously impact the soil quality as they are more prone to having soil erosion which will also affect the diversity of fauna and flora for example, Lower Peirce Erosion Site.
Secondly, Other than the environmental impact, according to (Audrey Tan, 2019), LTA claims that if mitigation measures are carried out, such as replanting of trees, shepherding wildlife and translocating trees would reduce the impact from major to moderate or negligible. So LTA expect the public to accept the assumption without giving them the supporting documents or evidences of the claim. Mitigation measure requires large amount of space which in-turn affect the biodiversity of the area, one example of failed mitigation method was in 2010, jacking project located at BKE/PIE spilled a massive amount of silt into Rifle Range stream system that affected the fish and fauna. One cannot assume mitigation measures does not equal to no impact.
Lastly, in the article "Cross Island Line: Findings of site investigation works to be released" (Audrey tan, 2018) states that LTA had done the research and findings on the environmental impact if the CRL to be built under CCNR. However, the findings were not released to the public, by doing so, the public will be even more curious as to why LTA wants to hide the information from the public and not just released it, some may even suspect if something not pleasant appear in the findings but the authority wants to cover up to persuade the public into accepting the outcome.
In conclusion, LTA need to be transparent to the public and especially to the nature group to provide assurance and guarentee that little to no impact will be caused to the nature. And hopefully LTA will handle the construction of CRL with utmost rigor.
Reference:
Neo Chai Chin (28 June, 2018) Nature Group Seeks More Information on Impact of Cross Island Line Site Investigations. Adapted from: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/nature-group-seeks-more-information-impact-cross-island-line-site-investigations (Original post)
https://www.nss.org.sg/documents/(NSS)%20Cross-Island%20Line%20Position%20Paper.pdf
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/running-mrt-line-through-central-catchment-nature-reserve-may-endanger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Island_MRT_line
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/cross-island-line-findings-of-site-investigation-works-to-be-released
I fully agree with why nature lovers are compiling questions to the LTA, due to the lack of information provided by the authority. LTA did not provide sufficient details regarding about the cons or impact it caused to the environment. Hence many are questioning whether LTA will be transparent to the public.
First of all, LTA are about to construct Cross Island MRT Line which will be cutting through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve(CCNR) and Macritchie forest. The purpose of having nature reserve is protecting flora and fauna. By constructing CRL, LTA contradicts the purpose of having nature reserves. By having a construction site, toxic material spillage is inevitable, the spillage will seep into the soil and travel downstream and poison frail fauna and flora. Not only that, digging borehole will seriously impact the soil quality as they are more prone to having soil erosion which will also affect the diversity of fauna and flora for example, Lower Peirce Erosion Site.
Secondly, Other than the environmental impact, according to (Audrey Tan, 2019), LTA claims that if mitigation measures are carried out, such as replanting of trees, shepherding wildlife and translocating trees would reduce the impact from major to moderate or negligible. So LTA expect the public to accept the assumption without giving them the supporting documents or evidences of the claim. Mitigation measure requires large amount of space which in-turn affect the biodiversity of the area, one example of failed mitigation method was in 2010, jacking project located at BKE/PIE spilled a massive amount of silt into Rifle Range stream system that affected the fish and fauna. One cannot assume mitigation measures does not equal to no impact.
Lastly, in the article "Cross Island Line: Findings of site investigation works to be released" (Audrey tan, 2018) states that LTA had done the research and findings on the environmental impact if the CRL to be built under CCNR. However, the findings were not released to the public, by doing so, the public will be even more curious as to why LTA wants to hide the information from the public and not just released it, some may even suspect if something not pleasant appear in the findings but the authority wants to cover up to persuade the public into accepting the outcome.
In conclusion, LTA need to be transparent to the public and especially to the nature group to provide assurance and guarentee that little to no impact will be caused to the nature. And hopefully LTA will handle the construction of CRL with utmost rigor.
Reference:
Neo Chai Chin (28 June, 2018) Nature Group Seeks More Information on Impact of Cross Island Line Site Investigations. Adapted from: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/nature-group-seeks-more-information-impact-cross-island-line-site-investigations (Original post)
https://www.nss.org.sg/documents/(NSS)%20Cross-Island%20Line%20Position%20Paper.pdf
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/running-mrt-line-through-central-catchment-nature-reserve-may-endanger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_Island_MRT_line
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/cross-island-line-findings-of-site-investigation-works-to-be-released
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