The Questions
Throughout the feedback window, Singaporeans asked for transparent information and meaningful involvement. Much of it is still missing. Before any ground is cleared, these deserve answers.
The limits of the process
The Environmental Impact Assessment made the potential damage clear. Yet there is no law requiring the government to weigh that harm, and the Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan isn't audited by an independent party once construction begins.
Nor are there any human or climate studies for the site — no assessment of the forest's cooling effect, its carbon storage, or its value to physical and mental wellbeing. We're asking for those studies to be done before any development takes place.
By its own admission
These are the assessment's own words:
"Due to the rapid nature of this study, it is understood that there will be inherent limitations associated with data collection pertaining to the flora and fauna surveys … this study provides a snapshot of the ecological communities present during the surveys."
"A full Pollution Control Study (PCS) is not included as part of this EIA. All impact assessments for this study were executed using a qualitative approach. No quantitative modelling was employed in this study."
A rushed, qualitative snapshot — no quantitative modelling, no full pollution study — is a thin basis for clearing a mature forest for good.
Missing studies
How residents use and value the forest — its role in daily life and wellbeing — was never assessed.
The forest's local cooling and carbon storage, lost forever once cleared, went unmeasured.
No Heritage Impact Assessment for the Jurong Railway Line that runs through Sunset Way.
Why now?
Singapore has a pipeline of previously developed land. Before clearing a living forest, we need to understand the timeline. We look at five sites around Maju and Clementi, the former HDB blocks at Clementi Avenue 5, and what the Government would need to show before Maju Forest is cleared.
Still unanswered
What are the timelines for engagement and development after the feedback window closes?
How have MND and MSE worked together on greenfield sites — and are there formal procedures for choosing which forests to clear?
Why is the EIA feedback window a uniform four weeks, regardless of a project's environmental scale and complexity?
Why has no Heritage Impact Assessment been done in Sunset Way, despite the recognised heritage of the former Jurong Railway Line?
On the alternatives and the evidence we're asking the government to produce, see Our Position →
Put these questions to your MP.
