THE TEMASEK REVIEW

Written by Our Correspondent

Following the disastrous flooding at Bukit Timah last week which caused immense damage to the properties and cars in the affected areas, PUB now announced that it will be spending $67.5 million over the next three years to widen the drains in five areas around Singapore to make them less prone to floods.

The designated areas are in Jalan Haji Alias, Telok Kurau, Keppel Road, Jurong Port Road and Lincoln Road.

Construction work to widen the drainage canals in Bukit Timah will begin only in the third quarter of next year which raise questions on why it was not done earlier.

The beleaguered Minister of Environment and Water Resources Dr Yaacob Ibrahim claimed that the flooding at Bukit Timah was a “freak” event which occurs “once in fifty years”.

However in 2006, another “freak” flooding occurs at Thomson under his watch when heavy downpour caused the MacRitchie and Seletar reservoirs to overflow.

Dr Yaacob did not apologize to the public for what appears to be a lapse on the part of his ministry except to appeal for ”patience”. He assumed the portfolio in 2004.

The state media has been busy of late trying to limit the damage from the fallout by emphasizing on the measures PUB will be taken to prevent a similar “freak” event from recurring.

PAP MP Christopher de Souza visited the areas affected by the flooding two days later and promised to “do something” about it.

PUB will be installing water sensors in the drainage canals at Bukit Timah which will warn the residents and traffic police when the water level reaches the 50 per cent mark.

An angry resident by the name of Michael Yeo wrote in to the Straits Times Forum on 25 November 2009 demanding that developers bear the cost of flood prevention.

He was also baffled by the persistence of the flooding problem despite the widening of canals for many years.

“Developments alongside the Bukit Timah Canal are susceptible to flash floods judging from historical evidence……We are told that widening of the canals has been ongoing for many years. Yet, the flooding problem has not stopped.”

Another Singaporean by the name of Narayana wrote cryptically if the flood was really a “freak” event or could it be tracked in a letter published in the Straits Times forum today:

“Although we are into the annual monsoon period when heavy rain is only to be expected, it does seem strange that with all the sophisticated tracking technology now available to meteorologists, there was no advance warning of this ‘extraordinarily intensive storm’ for the public to prepare themselves adequately.

The report informs that ‘this flood comes three years after one of Singapore’s worst floodings in recent history, in December 2006′.

However, this appears to conflict with the comment attributed to the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim (’Deluge a ‘once in 50 years’ event’, last Saturday) that this was a ‘freak’ event.”

PUB claimed that it is working with the three Bukit Timah condominiums whose basement carparks were partially submerged during the flooding to prevent a recurrence.

Without an independent press nor an effective opposition in parliament, the Bukit Timah residents may never know the real cause of the flooding.

In the meantime, they will have to accept the official explanation that it is a “freak” event which “cannot be planned for” in the words of Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

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