AMK heartland makeover mess worries residents,
shopkeepers
By Tor Ching Li, TODAY
SINGAPORE : Residents and shopkeepers in Ang Mo Kio are in two
minds over the current upgrading works in the 23-year-old
township.
While the heartland makeover has been much anticipated by those
hoping for an exciting, newer township in the likeness of Toa Payoh
or Marine Parade, there are also worries over whether there is any
method to the "madness".
As part of the Housing Development Board's (HDB) estate renewal
strategy for Ang Mo Kio launched in June 1996, there are now three
separate upgrading programmes slated - the town centre upgrading,
the lift upgrading programme (LUP) and the hawker centres upgrading
programme (HUP).
Plans for the major redevelopment of the town centre - being
handled by the Ang Mo Kio Town Council - had been mentioned as
early as 2000, but work just started this May. Shopkeepers were
told it has been scheduled for completion within the next two
years.
According to Mr Lim Eng Leong, 65, an Ang Mo Kio resident for 24
years, voting on whether or not to proceed with the LUP was
supposed to proceed in October. But there has been no news, he
said.
An HDB spokesman told Today that "the LUP for Blocks 710, 714, 716,
725 and 729 along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6/8 are still in the design
stage".
Once the design is finalised and endorsed by the working committee,
residents will be asked to vote. The timeline for the upgrading is
"about 2.5 years".
Residents are similarly concerned over the upgrading of the hawker
centre, overseen by the National Environment Agency (NEA) as part
of the HUP. The NEA said while the hawker centre at Block 724 "is
eligible" for upgrading, the schedule and details "have not been
decided yet".
"As the Ang Mo Kio town centre is undergoing upgrading and this
hawker centre is located within the town centre, the NEA will work
with the HDB, Town Council and the HUP working committee to work
out an appropriate upgrading schedule for the hawker centre," said
an NEA spokesman.
Remarked Mr Lim: "Why can't someone coordinate by bringing the
three relevant authorities together and set a time frame to
commence simultaneously, so that the residents and shopkeepers will
not be hampered by the on-off construction work?"
Mr Goh Ang Jee, chairman of the Ang Mo Kio Constituency Merchants'
Association, said association members have complained that business
suffered a 30 to 40 per cent drop since construction work started
in May and metal fences were put up in front of - and around -
their shops.
Mr Leong San Cheng, the owner of the famous Tip Top curry puff
stall at Hiap Hwa Eating House at Block 722, said: "Fewer people
sit down to eat because of the dust."
Mr Goh, who owns a furniture and renovation store at Block 728,
griped: "My own business has dropped by half."
But on whether all the upgrading works should be done
simultaneously, Mr Goh said: "Now it's very messy and there are
more mosquitoes as water collected in the holes turns to breeding
grounds
If the town and hawker centres were to be upgraded
together, that would be total chaos!"
The original plan in August 2001 was to develop a mega-complex -
featuring a 31-storey condominium, a 21-storey office building and
an NTUC hypermarket - at the 2.57ha plot of land opposite the MRT
station to be completed by 2006.
This was put on hold by the Singapore Labour Foundation, in charge
of building on the plot of land, due to "changing economic
conditions".
Now, $325 million has been set aside for the whole redevelopment
project, which will include a three-storey shopping centre on a
1.93ha plot instead and a bus interchange linked to the MRT
station.
Mr Seng Han Thong, MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, promised residents
earlier that the new mall would be ready in the first half of 2007.
- TODAY
Apparently, work on AMK Int was delayed due to the state of the
economy, as this report seems to suggest.
