PUNGGOL/TAMPINES AREA (Fly menace)

Mr Ng Kah Ting asked the Minister for the Environment if he is aware of the sudden increase of flies in the Punggol/ Tampines area, particularly around the Chinese New Year season; what were the causes and what measures have been taken to eradicate this menace and whether the situation is under control.

The Minister for the Environment (Dr Ahmad Mattar): Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry is aware of an increase in the incidence of fly breedings at the Lorong Halus Dumping Ground around the Chinese New Year period. This increase was due to increased refuse dumped at the dumping grounds and a temporary shortage of earth to cover the refuse, The fly situation at the Lorong Halus Dumping Ground, Sir, is monitored daily and the increase was controlled by insecticidal spray.

Sir, during a routine survey of the Hougang housing estate by my health inspectors, we also detected a number of fly breedings at the refuse chutes of some of the flats and bin centres. This problem arose because of an increase in refuse output in the estate due to the Chinese New Year period as well as the durian season. The fly breedings were destroyed and the situation is back to normal. The fly nuisance at Hougang housing estate was not related to the increase in incidence of fly breedings at Lorong Halus Dumping Ground, which is about 2 km away.

Sir, at this stage, I would like to mention to this House that as long as we have to dump our refuse we can anticipate complaints of this nature to arise once in a while, especially during festive seasons and during prolonged periods of bad weather.

The other point that I feel I should make in this House is that sewerage, refuse disposal and street cleansing activities are labour-intensive. In spite of automation and mechanization, we still need to depend on a large number of daily-rated employees, or what we call the DREs. I think we are fortunate, Sir, that we do have these people to do the job. But I am afraid, Sir, it would not be for long. The DREs belong to a special breed of people, and one major problem faced by my Ministry in this area is the declining number of our DRE workforce. Retirement and resignation, Sir, could not be matched by recruitment which is increasingly difficult because of the obnoxious nature of the job. But be rest assured, Sir, that my Ministry, particularly the Environmental Health Officers of my Ministry, are vigilant. They are always on the alert and they will attend to complaints of this nature immediately and in the best way they know how.

Mr Ng Kah Ting: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the Hon. Minister for the Enyironment two supplementary questions: one in relation to labour and the other in relation to disposal of refuse?

With regard to the question of labour, would he enlighten this House as to how his Ministry intends to overcome such a problem, and whether they are overcoming this problem by the construction of another incinerator plant which will eliminate more labour and be able to dispose more refuse? In this respect, we have to bear in mind that another part of the land in Punggol has been acquired for the purpose of trade refuse disposal.

Dr Ahmad Mattar: Mr Speaker, Sir, for land-scarce Singapore, the most cost-effective method of refuse waste disposal is by incineration, particularly because of the high volume-reduction achieved in transforming refuse to ash. The heat generated from the combustion of refuse can be made use of to generate electricity and the ferrous metals present in the ash residue can be extracted and sold as scrap iron.

As you know, Sir, we have at the moment one refuse incineration plant at Ulu Pandan and the Government is currently building a second one at Tuas. Based on the projected tonnage of volume that we can anticipate in the 1990s, we may have to build a third one. But even if we build all the incineration plants that we need to build, the level of technology today, Sir, can only allow 80% of the total refuse collected to be incinerated. The remaining 20%, what we call the non-incinerables, will still have to be dumped.

On the question of acquisition of land in Punggol for dumping, I think that part of the Punggol has been earmarked for the development of a new town and, therefore, the site for the additional dumping ground has been transferred to a new area which is adjacent to the Lorong Halus dumping ground.