Oral Answer by Ministry of National Development on Environmental Impact Assessments for construction works near national parks or nature reserves

Feb 11, 2019

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: To ask the Minister for National Development whether the Ministry will consider making Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) mandatory for all construction works near national parks or nature reserves and making such EIA reports publicly available.

Answer:

Today, development projects that are near sensitive areas, including Nature Reserves, Nature Areas, areas of significant biodiversity, as well as marine and coastal areas, are required to undergo an in-depth consultation process with the relevant technical agencies to discuss the scope of works, the possible environmental impact, and corresponding mitigating measures. 

If the potential environmental impact of a project is assessed to be significant, we will require the project developer to conduct further environmental studies to thoroughly assess the nature and magnitude of the impact, and to implement more extensive mitigating measures to address them. 

As I have previously said in this House, our intention is to make publicly available the findings from such environmental impact assessments, unless there are specific reasons such as security considerations that require us to maintain confidentiality.