MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC TREES

MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC TREES: 11.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for National Development in light of the recent incident when a tree in Bukit Batok Nature Park fell and killed a jogger, whether the National Parks Board has sufficient checks in place to ensure that trees planted in Singapore are well maintained and do not pose a risk to people.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, NParks has sufficient checks in place to ensure that our trees do not pose a safety hazard to the public. Its team of arborists undertakes a rigorous tree inspection regime to ensure the health and condition of the trees under NParks' charge. With the help of the latest technology, the arborists are able to detect conditions such as cavities and decay that are not visible to the eyes. They also prune our trees regularly to remove weak, dry or overgrown branches. This reduces the weight of foliage in the tree crown and improves stability.

NParks has benchmarked its tree expertise against international best

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practices. Its arborists are certified under a curriculum set by the International Society of Arboriculture. NParks offers the same certification to tree care professionals in the private sector and other public agencies. NParks also advises public agencies and other land owners on tree-care standards.

NParks' tree maintenance programme has reaped positive results over the years. It currently maintains more than one million trees along roadsides, in parks and on vacant lands. The annual number of fallen trees and branches has reduced considerably from about 4,000 in year 2000 to about 1,000 in 2006.

However, it is not possible to eliminate tree-related accidents altogether. While tree diseases can be diagnosed and brought under control, there are elements of nature that are beyond our control. The recent incidents at the Bukit Batok Nature Park and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve were cases in point. The incidents were caused by a combination of strong winds and heavy rain. In addition, it is also a challenge to maintain trees in nature areas because of limited accessibility and the need to strike a balance with conservation.

NParks will continue to improve its tree maintenance programme. It will take measures to increase public awareness on avoiding forested areas during inclement weather. It will also look into additional safety measures, such as increasing the number of rain shelters and instituting periodic closing of trails for maintenance.

Mdm Halimah Yacob: I would like to ask the Minister of State, when there are strong winds and heavy rain during such periods and the soil around the trees is loosened, whether additional checks are being done by NParks and also what precautions are then given to residents

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and passers-by when they come close to such trees.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: NParks has a regular programme on checking the trees. Where periods of continuous rainfall or strong winds have happened, we have also taken measures to close the nature park, if necessary. Following the incidents, we will step up warnings to the users of the park. But in the case of the central catchment area, I think we did close the park to visitors but, unfortunately, the group of visitors had already passed the gates.

Dr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang): Sir, may I ask MOS whether NParks will consider using a tie-back system, as what they have done in Japan, where they tie back mature trees so that they can fall safely in a certain direction during typhoon. Along footpaths, we can tie back to fall backwards and along the roads, to tie back so that they will fall outside the roads. This is seen in Japan.

Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for the suggestion. But, I think, in these two cases, they occurred in a nature reserve and also a park within the reserve. In this case, we have to always take a very careful approach to balance the need to retain the environment as close to nature as possible and to provide accessibility to visitors. Some of the measures that we could take, for example, in cutting down some of the trees near the paths may be very detrimental to the nature and, therefore, we should really be quite careful when we adopt that. Also, accessibility, in terms of the road paths for checking and maintenance purpose, has also imposed difficulties for us. But we will definitely take the suggestion of the Member and study it.