PUB should not have used the word "ponding":
Balakrishnan
By Hetty Musfirah | Posted: 09
January 2012 1504 hrs
SINGAPORE: The capacity of Stamford Canal will be
increased by at least a third to reduce the risk of flooding along
Singapore's shopping belt of Orchard Road.
Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said in Parliament on
Monday, that a consultancy study is underway and is expected to be
completed by May.
He said such projects can be costly, but his ministry is prepared
to undertake longer term investments.
But he cautioned that Singapore faces constraints.
Dr Balakrishnan said said: "I think many members will be familiar
that whenever PUB has a drain, we have a drainage reserve.
"In other words, we always have space where if we need to deepen or
widen a drain, we will take land from the owners or public
utilities.
"Well in the case of Stamford Canal, which lies under Orchard Road,
we've run out of drainage capacity. Secondly, to now embark on
further surgery on Stamford Canal, would cost enormous disruption
to services and the operations, pedestrian flow and vehicular flow
along Orchard Road. I put all this because I want you all to
understand that we are constrained."
The Stamford Canal starts upstream at the Botanic Gardens and
Dempsey Hill, passes through Bras Basah and City Hall areas, before
draining into the Marina Reservoir.
The area of special concern is a basin between Cuscaden and
Cairnhill Roads at Orchard Road.
There have been three episodes of flooding in this area over the
past eighteen months.
Dr Balakrishnan said the episodes are part of a larger pattern of
rainfall change in Singapore over the past decades.
On 16 June 2010, some 100mm of rain fell in the area over two
hours, causing Orchard Road between Cuscaden and Cairnhill Roads to
flood to a depth of 300mm.
On 5 June 2011, some 124mm of rain fell over about four hours, and
caused the Tanglin area to be flooded to a depth of 100mm.
Compared to the incidents on 16 June 2010 and 5 June 2011, the
latest incident on 23 December 2011, saw the heaviest rainfall of
153 mm recorded over three hours.
Dr Balakrishnan noted that Orchard Road remained passable to
traffic due to the completion of road raising works in June
2011.
But he noted that any form of flooding needs to be addressed.
Dr Balakrishnan said: "The technical difference between a flood, a
flash flood and a pond - let me just say that as far as I'm
concerned.
"PUB should not have used the word, "ponding".
"As far as I'm concerned, I call a spade a spade, a flood is a
flood.
"As long as there is water accumulating somewhere, where it is not
supposed to be, as long as it has implications on human safety, on
business operations, that is a flood, that is a problem that needs
to be resolved, PUB and the building owners must resolve it."
Dr Balakrishnan said PUB is evaluating various options.
This include storm water detention ponds in the upstream section,
or a new canal to divert storm water from upstream portions of the
catchment to the Singapore River.
Dr Balakrishnan said: "These detention ponds are not going to be
cheap, to give you an idea of scale, they have a capacity of 40 to
50 Olympic sized pools.
"We will need land two to three times of a football pitch, putting
aside land like that in a precious real estate in the Orchard Road
area, I think members will agree, (it) is something we don't enter
into likely.
"I set this very simple challenge to PUB. Let's us assume that we
will continue to have storms, exactly similar to what we have in
the last three episodes. In fact, let us assume further.
"Let us assume that it may be even worse than that. The reply that
the engineers came back to me is, is that "if we want to able to be
almost guaranteed that we can cope with similar storms of the last
eighteen months, then in the long run we need to increase the
capacity of Stamford Canal by 30 per cent."
Dr Balakrishnan said flood protection measures undertaken by
building owners in Orchard Road over the past 18 months were
generally effective, except for the basements of Liat Towers and
Lucky Plaza that were overwhelmed by the heavy downpour on 23
December.
PUB is already working closely with the building owners at Liat
Towers and Lucky Plaza to fine tune their flood protection
measures, and review operating procedures.
Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has met the building owners of Liat
Towers and Lucky Plaza, and is reassured that they will do their
best to collaborate with PUB in resolving localised flooding
problems."
Dr Balakrishnan said the panel of experts appointed middle of last
year to review the overall drainage design and flood protection
measures, is expected to complete its work by this week.
Their findings and recommendations will be shared with the
public.
- CNA
