LONGER-TERM CHALLENGES
Speaking to reporters, Dr Tan said team was able to quickly implement infrastructural plans such as covered linkways, which he described as “low hanging fruit”.
But there are also longer-term plans to address the “last 50 metres” of one’s commute home and cannot be easily fixed due to the presence of critical underground infrastructure.
“We also have to be cognisant of the fact that below what you see, (in our) subterranean there’s a lot of infrastructure. There are power cables, there are water pipes, and there are also multiple infrastructures (that have) been laid there for many, many decades before that,” he said.
These are the kinds of infrastructure that might not have available plans and drawings due to their age, but the team will continue to “explore” them, he said.
Another issue was rapidly aging population in Chua Chu Kang GRC, particularly Teck Whye, in contrast with the younger families in Tengah, Dr Tan said.
“So in that sense itself, because of the changing population demographics, a longer type of planning includes studying the trend and also the movement of residents in and within Teck Whye,” he said, adding that the team was studying the care arrangements of younger families with lower income.
Dr Tan also made reference to his previous stint as MP of Marine Parade GRC, which has since become a part of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.
“Some of the initiatives that I carried out successfully in the past, in my other GRC, in Marine Parade … I’m thinking of imbibing, taking some of it and replicating it here, but those would take time for us to conduct a more detailed study,” he said.
Asked if there were differences between Choa Chu Kang and Marine Parade, Dr Tan pointed to the undulating terrain in Teck Whye, which contrasted to the flat, low-lying land in his old estate.
“And as a result of the undulating nature of the terrain, then all the more connectivity is actually going to be key to get the residents to move out of the house and to walk,” he said.
He noted how flats built on hilltops also made for good views and presented opportunities for the lived environment.
“So the key thing is that, how do we therefore merge, how do we integrate the beauty here in terms of the nature, the greenery, and harmonising that undulating landscape with a very nice lived environment that can actually cater to a population, a resident population of all ages?
“I think that’s a challenge, and that’s something that I’m trying to see how I can get creative architects, landscape architects, to help us in the next bound, to see whether we can come up with something that is cogent and, of course, that is affordable.”
