Draft #3 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 authority. The drilling of 16 boreholes was done to find a suitable condition for the line to be constructed, either tunneling under nature reserve or skirting around it. An environmental impact assessment was done after the drilling work and it shows a moderate impact if alleviation measures were taken. When being questioned whether the statement is true, LTA remains quiet. LTA also fails to provide the frequency of animal sightings before and after the work is done. As the authority fails to provide sufficient information, it worries the nature group thus questions are being compiled and hope LTA would provide assurance and address their concern about the environmental impacts.
I fully agree with why nature lovers are compiling questions to LTA, due to the lack of information provided by the authority, they did not provide sufficient details regarding the impact it caused to the flora and fauna, assumptions of mitigation measures and transparency of findings. Hence many are questioning whether LTA would be transparent to the public.
First of all, LTA is about to construct Cross Island MRT Line which would be cutting through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve(CCNR) and Macritchie forest. The purpose of having a nature reserve is to protect flora and fauna. By constructing CRL, it 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. Moreover, digging of the borehole will seriously impact the soil quality as they are more prone to having soil erosion which would also affect the diversity of fauna and flora, for example, Lower Peirce Erosion Site.
Secondly, Other than the environmental impact, according to Tan (2019) LTA claims that if mitigation measures are carried out, such as replanting trees, shepherding wildlife and translocating trees would reduce the impact from major to moderate or negligible. Also in this article, "National University of Singapore biology lecturer N. Sivasothi said that even with the mitigation measures, it was a "big jump" to say that reduction in impact would be reduced from "major" to "moderate". This shows that LTA expects the public to accept the assumption without giving them the supporting documents or shreds of evidence of the claim. Mitigation measure requires a large amount of space which in turn affects 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" 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 needs to be transparent to the public and especially to the nature group to provide assurance and guarantee that little to no impact will be caused to nature. And hopefully, LTA would handle the construction of CRL with the utmost rigor.
Reference:
Nature Society Singapore (18 July 2013) NSS discussion & position paper (Page 20-27) - Cross Island Line
Retrieved from: https://www.nss.org.sg/documents/(NSS)%20Cross-Island%20Line%20Position%20Paper.pdf
Neo, C.C (28 June 2018) Nature Group Seeks More Information on Impact of Cross Island Line Site Investigations. TODAYonline.
Adapted from: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/nature-group-seeks-more-information-impact-cross-island-line-site-investigations (Original post)
Tan, A (20 March 2018) Cross Island Line: Findings of site investigation works to be released. The Straits Time.
Adapted from: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/cross-island-line-findings-of-site-investigation-works-to-be-released
Tan, A (2 September 2019) Mitigation measures can cut wildlife impact of running Cross Island MRT line under nature reserve. The Straits Time.
Retrieved from: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/running-mrt-line-through-central-catchment-nature-reserve-may-endanger
I fully agree with why nature lovers are compiling questions to LTA, due to the lack of information provided by the authority, they did not provide sufficient details regarding the impact it caused to the flora and fauna, assumptions of mitigation measures and transparency of findings. Hence many are questioning whether LTA would be transparent to the public.
First of all, LTA is about to construct Cross Island MRT Line which would be cutting through the Central Catchment Nature Reserve(CCNR) and Macritchie forest. The purpose of having a nature reserve is to protect flora and fauna. By constructing CRL, it 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. Moreover, digging of the borehole will seriously impact the soil quality as they are more prone to having soil erosion which would also affect the diversity of fauna and flora, for example, Lower Peirce Erosion Site.
Secondly, Other than the environmental impact, according to Tan (2019) LTA claims that if mitigation measures are carried out, such as replanting trees, shepherding wildlife and translocating trees would reduce the impact from major to moderate or negligible. Also in this article, "National University of Singapore biology lecturer N. Sivasothi said that even with the mitigation measures, it was a "big jump" to say that reduction in impact would be reduced from "major" to "moderate". This shows that LTA expects the public to accept the assumption without giving them the supporting documents or shreds of evidence of the claim. Mitigation measure requires a large amount of space which in turn affects 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" 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 needs to be transparent to the public and especially to the nature group to provide assurance and guarantee that little to no impact will be caused to nature. And hopefully, LTA would handle the construction of CRL with the utmost rigor.
Reference:
Nature Society Singapore (18 July 2013) NSS discussion & position paper (Page 20-27) - Cross Island Line
Retrieved from: https://www.nss.org.sg/documents/(NSS)%20Cross-Island%20Line%20Position%20Paper.pdf
Neo, C.C (28 June 2018) Nature Group Seeks More Information on Impact of Cross Island Line Site Investigations. TODAYonline.
Adapted from: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/nature-group-seeks-more-information-impact-cross-island-line-site-investigations (Original post)
Tan, A (20 March 2018) Cross Island Line: Findings of site investigation works to be released. The Straits Time.
Adapted from: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/cross-island-line-findings-of-site-investigation-works-to-be-released
Tan, A (2 September 2019) Mitigation measures can cut wildlife impact of running Cross Island MRT line under nature reserve. The Straits Time.
Retrieved from: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/running-mrt-line-through-central-catchment-nature-reserve-may-endanger
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