EAST COAST EXPRESSWAY TO ANSON ROAD (Land reclamation and completion date)

Mr Hwang Soo Jin asked the Minister for National Development and Communications (a) when the land reclamation linking the East Coast to Anson Road will be completed and, when completed, what uses the land will be put to; (b) when the proposed expressway itself will be completed and, when completed, how many lanes of traffic it will carry; and (c) whether, after reclamation and completion of the expressway, floods will occur during those periods when heavy rains coincide with high tides.

The Minister for National Development and Communications (Mr Lim Kim San): Sir, the land reclamation linking the East Coast to Anson Road is scheduled for completion by early 1978. Part of the reclaimed land will `be used for the expressway linking the East Coast Parkway to the City and the usage of the rest of the land is now under study.

The expressway will be completed at the end of 1980. There will be four lanes of traffic in each direction.

There are pockets of low-lying areas between the East Coast and Anson Road which may be flooded when heavy rains coincide with high tides, irrespective of whether there was reclamation or not. In fact, Mr Speaker, Sir, just now on my way to Parliament, part of Telok Ayer Street was flooded even when there was no rain. These are areas which are very low and, regardless of whether there is rain or not, high spring tides will flood these areas. We also had hydraulic model studies which confirm that the reclamation will not in any way aggravate the flooding. The proposed expressway itself will not be subject to flooding as the road will be higher than the flood level.

Mr P. Govindaswamy: Sir, the Minister knows that there is no rain today and yet Robinson Road and parts of that area are flooded. Is there any policy to block the water from flowing into the drains?

Mr Lim Kim San: Sir, as I said just now, those areas which I saw today were flooded in spite of the fact that there was no rain because they are below high tide level. So if we prevent the tides from flowing in at all we will also be preventing any water from flowing out. But since it is only a few days in a year that we have high spring tides which can cause flood to this area. I do no~ think it advisable to block the drains. Otherwise for the rest of the year dirty water will not be able to flow out to the sea from these low-lying areas.