Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan on Monday (31 August) urged the Jurong-Clementi Town Council to construct a pathway for pedestrians in an area surrounding several housing blocks in Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency (SMC).
In a Facebook post yesterday, Dr Chee said that his action was spurred by some of the residents who brought the matter to his attention.
Attaching several photographs of the area “surrounding Blks 190, 192, 187 and beyond”, he pointed out that the lack of pavements has forced residents “to walk on the road or on the grass patch”.
“This is not only inconvenient but is also dangerous as pedestrians have to share the road with vehicular traffic. A cement path leading from a nearby bus-stop ends abruptly at the road.
“I have used the route several times myself and I agree that the area needs a proper pathway, even a sheltered one,” said Dr Chee.
He also encouraged Bukit Batok residents, particularly those who use the route, to contact him via WhatsApp at 8413 0302 or to email him on the matter.
Dr Chee contested in Bukit Batok against the incumbent People’s Action’s Party’s (PAP) Murali Pillai in the recent general election. Dr Chee, however, lost to Mr Murali. The former garnered 45.20 per cent of the votes while the latter gained 54.80 per cent of the votes.
Dr Chee has actively questioned delays in projects under the responsibility of Mr Pillai — as the Member of Parliament of Bukit Batok — and the Jurong-Clementi Town Council.
On 27 June, he posted on Facebook a series of photos of signboards carrying notices and announcements about projects such as the “Neighbourhood Renewal Programme” and “Revitalisation of Shops”.
He compared timelines and deadlines of the said projects with their actual stages of completion, two of which he said were delayed by three years.
He also talked about uncompleted construction works that are unsafe and hazardous.
“They are left unfenced and uncovered; not only are these safety lapses an eyesore, (but) more importantly, it also poses a safety hazard (and) should be quickly rectified,” said Dr Chee.
Based on the picture, Dr Chee uploaded along with his post, one can see that the site has only been half-covered with blue cloth, while the ground was sprawled with stones.
Four days after Dr Chee’s post, however, the areas in question were properly cordoned off with “a proper barricade” when he went back “to ensure no one can enter the spot and the ground is properly cleaned with no dangerous materials laying around”.
“The site is not in some obscure corner in the estate. It’s the most crowded spot in BB (Blk 154) with a wet market and huge centre,” he stressed.
“The people elect you to run the estate, you collect the $16k/month salary, (but) out-source the work to a managing agent and then make the people pay for it. Someone please explain the logic to me,” Dr Chee remarked.
“This is what I mean when I say that MPs must go full-time. It’s impossible to give your 100% if you spend all your time on your day job”, he added.
