Residents in Yishun were confused when they found out that a brand new bicycle path in front of NorthPoint Shopping mall was demolished literally the day after it was completed.
One resident, Mr Edward Lim Yew Sih, wrote in to ST forums about his observations back in December and his letter was published on Dec 31st.
Mr Lim explained that he was a cycling enthusiast and so he had been happy to hear of a new bike path and had been following its development.
He explained that residents were forced to make detours for about 3 to 4 months at the section of road in front of North Point for the construction works but were pleased to see that the works were completed a few weeks early and the barricades came down in December.
Mr Lim explained that his excitement was short-lived as the very next day, new barricades were put up and the newly completed bicycle path was demolished again to make way for a bus stop.
Both these issues should be under LTA as they are transport issues and yet Mr Lim pointed out that resources were wasted due to the lack of coordination.
IT seems that LTA’s lack of coordination runs even deeper than this too as it took them about three weeks to even be able to respond to Mr Lim’s letter.
In response, LTA admitted that they have a lack of coordination and this had resulted in a waste of resources and time:
We thank Mr Edward Lim Yew Sih for his feedback (“New bicycle path demolished before being open to public”; Forum Online, Dec 31).
We admit to an error in coordination on our part.
The Land Transport Authority works to coordinate infrastructure works in an estate to minimise disruption to residents. This is very important as we are in the midst of a substantial expansion of many commuter, pedestrian and cycling initiatives.
In the case of the stretch of new cycling path along Yishun Central, we should have ensured more effective coordination internally, to have identified early the eventual necessity for a new bus stop at the same stretch.
This is an isolated incident. Nevertheless, we have used it as an example to further improve coordination between different projects to prevent inconvenience and disruption.
Helen Lim (Ms)
Director, Media Relations
Land Transport Authority
LTA also justified its incompetence saying that it is currently doing many “sizable” expansion projects and coordination is difficult.
“We should have better internal coordination for this new bicycle path along Yishun Central, to discover earlier the need of a new bus-stop along the same stretch of road,” it said.
LTA also insisted that this was an “isolated incident”.
Source: www.therealsingapore.com
