Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Government intends to take into account the Environmental Impact Study that was undertaken during the development of the former Keppel Club site, which found ecological connectivity for birds between the Southern Ridges and Labrador Nature Reserve, when conducting environmental studies of the proposed development of Gillman Barracks; and (b) if so, how will the Ministry ensure that any future development of Gillman Barracks will not significantly compromise this important ecological connectivity.
Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether rejuvenation plans for Gillman Barracks that were announced by the Singapore Land Authority in 2022 will be taken into account when studying the future development of Gillman Barracks; and (b) whether the environmental and heritage studies commissioned for the potential development of the area will be accessible to environmental groups and the wider public.
The Minister for National Development (Mr Desmond Lee): Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to answer Parliamentary Question Nos 7 and 8 on today’s Order Paper, as they both relate to the plans for Gillman Barracks?
Mr Speaker: Please proceed.
Mr Desmond Lee: Thank you, Sir. As announced during the recent Committee of Supply debate, the Government is studying the possibility of redeveloping the Gillman Barracks site for a mix of public and private housing. This will not affect the committed tenure of existing tenancies, which will progressively expire by 2030.
We will commence environmental and heritage studies in the second quarter of this year to guide the sensitive development of the site. When the studies are complete, we will publish these reports online for members of the public to provide their feedback.
Our plans will also take into account past studies, including findings on ecological connectivity from the National Parks Board (NParks’) Ecological Profiling Exercise (EPE) and the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for the redevelopment of the former Keppel Golf Course site.
Mr Speaker: Ms He.
Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): I thank the Minister for his reply. I have a couple of supplementary questions. First is, in terms of the previous environmental impact assessments that were done, which found a significant ecological connectivity between the Keppel Club site and also the Southern Ridges and Labrador Nature Reserve site. The EIS for the nearby Keppel Club site found that even with mitigation measures, redevelopment could have major residual impact on biodiversity due to permanent habitat loss and fragmentation. In light of this, can the Minister clarify what specific plans are in place to designate sizeable core habitat patches and green corridors within Gillman Barracks to maintain landscape connectivity between the Labrador Nature Reserve, the Southern Ridges and the Greater Southern Waterfront? If there are no such plans, how does the Government intend to prevent critical ecological linkages from being irreversibly compromised?
I also heard the Minister mention earlier that the existing tenants whose leases will run out progressively until 2030, will not be affected if the plans to redevelop the site goes ahead at Gillman Barracks. However, I anticipate that there will be some new tenants who might come in and can the Minister confirm whether the leases will run beyond 2030? And also, will help be given to these tenants who come in a bit later, especially during the rejuvenation period? Will there be help given to them to find new leases elsewhere if the redevelopment plans actually do go through?
And finally, my last supplementary question is, I think the Minister mentioned earlier that there will be certain heritage and environmental impact assessments also carried out and that these will be made available. Can I ask whether the reports will eventually be made available in full for the public, because I understand that sometimes these are only made available in a redacted form. So, can I ask whether these will be made available in full?
Mr Desmond Lee: I thank the Member for the three supplementary questions. As I said earlier in my reply, the masterplanning for the Gillman Barracks site will take place after we have done detailed environmental and heritage studies and that the planning for Gillman Barracks will take into account the EIS findings for the Keppel Golf Course site, in as far as the EPE findings are concerned.
In the Keppel Golf Course EPE, we identified five corridors that need to be provided for, even as we redevelop the site for residential housing on the golf course. And we will make sure that that ecological connectivity is provided for, in the surroundings of the Keppel Golf Course.
On lease, as I have said, the site had been made available for interim use since the 1990s. The existing tenancies will progressively expire by 2030. Thereafter, we will plan for the entire site, including residential as well as the commercial uses of the site. And so, at that point in time, we will engage the tenants, engage future tenants as far as the commercial use of the site is concerned. [Please refer to “Clarification by Minister for National Development“, Official Report, 2 April 2024, Vol 95, Issue 133, Correction By Written Statement section.]
As for heritage, the studies for both the environmental and heritage studies will be made available online. As with all these studies, they come in large volumes with lots and lots of technical detail. We will make sure that what we put out is meaningful for members of the public as well as experts to be able to understand and comment on.
Ministry of National Development
2 April 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3545
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 