Tengah Forest To Clear Way For Expressway and Wildlife Crossing Path For Protecting Animals too
As we know that Singapore is constantly improving and changing forest area to give way to developments for residential areas, with the latest project of the Tengah Forest which is a 60-hectare forest corridor which will undergo for such development. Where 2 viaducts connecting the upcoming Tengah Town with Kranji Expressway (KJE) will be built and to protect animals during construct work, the LTA will build a temporary wildlife crossing before the construction begins.
According to The Straits Times (ST), this is to increase the connectivity to the new Tengah Town and 2 viaducts will be built in this forest as there will be around 1.8 hectares of the Tengah Forest corridor will be used up. While the land clearance is necessary to allow vehicles to access for construction. However, once the construction is completed, NParks report that they will replant back large tree saplings to speed up the maturation of the greenery.
However, the ecologist expressed that it won’t be the same as conserving mature trees as the mature trees are contributing a vast factor to the ecosystem by providing food and refuge to animals. Which the new 700 hectares of Tengah Town will be build on the secondary forest that connects the western catchment and central catchment nature reserve. As the Tengah Forest is also home to some critically endangered species such as the Sunda Pangolin and Straw Headed Bulbul.
In order to protect this wildlife, LTA will be building a temporarily crossing before the construction work begins to ensure the safety of these animals to cross through the forest. As these crossing will be crucial in helping this wildlife. We are certainly glad that the authorities have placed the importance of wildlife while coming up with these new landscape development plans.
