SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) has granted approval for a wet market to be built at the former Fernvale Point site in the Sengkang area, according to a Facebook post by Member of Parliament for the Sengkang West single-member constituency Lam Pin Min on Friday (Jun 17).
The wet market will be part of an integrated community facility that will also comprise a community club, childcare centre and hawker centre, he wrote.
Dr Lam also said a building fund committee has been formed to help raise funds for the integrated community facility. He later clarified, in response to comments to his post, that this was due to requirements for grassroots organisations to raise 10 per cent of the cost of building the community centre.
PLANS FOR FERNVALE POINT SITE
Neighbourhood shopping mall Fernvale Point closed at the end of April 2015. When it was announced that the mall would be demolished, Dr Lam said in an Apr 25 Facebook post that he would be discussing suggestions from residents for the site, such as building a community club, wet market, hawker centre, food court, library and childcare centre, with relevant agencies.
In a May 2015 update, Dr Lam, who has been MP of Sengkang West since 2011, said there had been "a few meetings with the agencies involved" regarding the plans for the site.
The issue came up in the 2015 General Election, when Dr Lam's opponent in Sengkang West, the Workers' Party's Koh Choong Yong called for Dr Lam to "call a spade a spade" during a rally on Sep 8.
"The people are expecting a hawker center and a wet market there ... If it is a wet market, call it a wet market. Don’t call it an integrated community facility and end up building a community centre there."
Dr Lam successfully retained his seat, garnering 62.1 per cent of the votes, compared to Mr Koh's 37.9 per cent.
- Posted 17 Jun 2016 20:33
- Updated 18 Jun 2016 10:39
- CNA/mz
Source: Channel NewsAsia