WIDENING OF CANTONMENT ROAD (Effect on Cantonment School and Keppel School)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr Ch'ng Jit Koon asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education to what extent will the road widening project currently in progress at Cantonment Road affect Cantonment School and Keppel School, and what plan his Ministry has to meet the situation.

The Senior Minister of State for Education (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Cantonment Road widening project has taken up some 0.37 hectares out of a total combined land area of 0.89 hectares of both Keppel School and Cantonment School. The project requires the demolition of: -

(i) the school dental clinic at Keppel School; and

(ii) the basketball court and part of the playing field of Cantonment School. The schools will be affected by dust during construction of the road and by noise from road traffic when the road is completed.

The PWD will reinstate the affected facilities within the school compound other than the dental clinic at Keppel School. Children who need dental care will have to travel about 1 kilometre to the Institute of Health. Sufficient outdoor assembly areas will be provided for the schools. A 3-metre brick wall will be erected along the roadside outside the schools to reduce the noise. This wall will be decorated with creepers and other architectural finishes.

In the long run, however, the schools will have to be resited as the present sites are located in an environment which is not very suitable for schools. Resiting of these two schools under the Ministry's School Building Programme is being planned. Suitable alternative sites not too far from the present sites, so that the new schools can serve the same pupil catchment area as the present schools, will have to be found first.