by Sue-ann Chia
THE Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Water
Resources on Sunday sought to dispel talk that it was futile to
build the Marina Barrage as it did nothing to prevent the flood in
Orchard Road last month.
Dr Amy Khor said it was working well. Otherwise, other areas in
Singapore might have flooded too.
She was responding to a resident's question on how to prevent
further floods, during a dialogue at Bukit Gombak ward in Hong Kah
GRC. Dr Khor is one of the five MPs in the constituency.
While the role of Marina Barrage in alleviating floods was not
raised by the resident, Dr Khor felt it was important to clear the
air on some lingering concerns, even after detailed explanations by
national water agency PUB and her ministry.
'There have been question raised...Is the Marina Barrage not
working? What is the problem with our maintenance system, our
cleaning regime?' she said.
The Marina Barrage was built to boost water supply and alleviate
flooding in low-lying parts of the island. It 'did help', said Dr
Khor, referring to that Wednesday morning last month when
Singapore's premier shopping belt was flooded.