DEVELOPMENT IN KALLANG PARK (Effect on shipyards and slipways in Kallang Park Industrial Estate)

The following Question stood in the name of Mr Ng Yeow Chong -

Mr Ng Yeow Chong: To ask the Minister for Law and National Development whether development in Kallang Park and its vicinity will affect the future of the shipyards and shipways in the Kallang Park Industrial Estate.

Mr Hwang Soo Jin rose -

Mr Speaker: Mr Hwang Soo Jin.

Mr Hwang Soo Jin: Sir, I have been requested by the Member for Mount-batten to ask Question No. 3.

Mr Barker: Mr Speaker, Sir, Kallang Park is being developed into a major sports and entertainment centre. This development, however, does not affect the shipyards and slipways in the Kallang Park Industrial Estate.

But the road network plan of the area includes a major expressway over the East Coast reclaimed land into the city, entailing a crossing at Kallang Basin. Whether this crossing should take the form of a bridge, a tunnel or a causeway, is being evaluated in the light of a plan to create a lake at the Kallang River mouth for recreational purposes and as a probable additional source of water supply.

The retention of shipyards and slip-ways in the Kallang Industrial Basin area will give rise to problems of water and visual pollution and jeopardise the long-term plans for this area. It is likely that existing shipyards and slip-ways in the Kallang Park Industrial Estate will have to be resisted elsewhere in five to eight years' time.