Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Thank you, Sir. I thank the Minister earlier for agreeing to look into the using of common spaces, such as RC centres and air-conditioned rooms in our CCs, to provide sanctuaries in case of haze.
I would like to ask whether, at the same time, there could also be a request made to looking into these spaces and making them available, to become heat sanctuaries in periods of heat waves and also when there are high temperatures for over prolonged periods? Because some of our elders and some of our residents might not have access to cooling devices or just cool environments.
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: We will definitely take up that suggestion as well. These are all important nodes of community support on the ground; it is actually a result of many, many decades of hard work of building up assets, such as RC centres, CCs, I would not say well-equipped, but which are prepared to handle some of these local exigencies when the need arises. And these have been put to good use, whether it is for COVID-19 management and now, potentially for haze. I would definitely like to take up Member He’s suggestion of using them in the case of prolonged and severe heat waves.
Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment
5 July 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3282
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 