THE Kranji farmers have made their strong plea for a granite stockpile to not be located there.
ROCK HOARD: In land-scarce Singapore, says the National Development Ministry, 'it is important for coexistence of different land uses on adjacent land plots'. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIMNow, in response, the Government has explained that it is of strategic importance for Singapore to have its own supply of key construction material.
In land-scarce Singapore, 'it is important for coexistence of different land uses on adjacent land plots', a Ministry of National Development statement said yesterday.
The intended site off Neo Tiew Road, according to the Kranji farmers' reckoning, is the size of 20 soccer pitches.
News first surfaced in May that a granite stockpile would be built in rustic Lim Chu Kang, which has more than 100 farmers. Urban visitors flock there on weekends.
About 10 farmers had banded together in 2005 to form the Kranji Countryside Association to promote the area. The association now has around 20 members.
It argued that a stockpile there, along with trucks regularly ferrying in granite, would hurt the farms and despoil the area.
On Oct 9, it sent a petition to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong with more than 1,000 signatures in a bid to 'save Singapore's countryside'.
Yesterday, the ministry's spokesman explained that the recent Indonesian sand ban and granite restrictions illustrated the strategic importance of a local stockpile.
Also, the land is listed as a 'reserve' site, meaning there is no fixed use for this land for the next 15 to 20 years.
The spokesman reassured the farmers that the ministry has a programme to monitor the water and soil conditions in the area. It will ensure that disruptions are minimised.
But Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim, the association's president, was not placated.
She insisted that the same arguments were being trotted out by the ministry.
She said: 'I would like to invite the Prime Minister down on a weekend to see the hundreds of children and families here. If, after that, he can still say that the stockpile here is the right thing to do, then I shall accept it.'
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