AIRPORT ROAD (Vehicular access to houses)

Mr Tay Boon Too asked the Minister for Law and National Development (a) how many residents along Airport Road have applied for permission to have entrances from the Road to their houses for vehicles; (b) how many of those applications have been (i) allowed; and (ii) rejected, and the reasons for the rejections; and (c) why have the authorities of Hong San School been refused permission to have an entrance at Airport Road for the convenience of the pupils.

Mr Ho Cheng Choon (for the Minister for Law and National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, my answer is:

(a) A total of 12 applications have been received;

(b) (i) Four applications were permitted separate entrances; (ii) of the other eight applications which requested four joint entrances, permission was refused because the entrances were either in the way of new bus bays or sited immediately next to existing bus bays. In all cases, the applicants have been provided with alternative access through the nearby car parks which were specially constructed by the Public Works Department for their use so as to prevent unauthorised parking of vehicles on the pedestrian paths and cycle tracks. Parking of motor vehicles along Airport Road is now prohibited;

(c) Hong San School has already a vehicular access via an unmetalled road off Airport Road next to Lorong Tai Seng. The Airport Road has to be kept as free as possible for the smooth flow of traffic and it is considered undesirable to allow direct vehicular access from the school to Airport Road.