Holland Bukit Panjang Town Council
Holland-Bukit Panjang Town
Council Sustainability Report 2021
Sustainable Town, Resilient Community
Latest News/Articles
19th Oct 2021
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10th Oct 2021
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9th Oct 2021
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Achieved
Chairman’s Message
Sustainability Report
Our Sustainability Approach
A sustainability framework – founded upon our mission to foster a desirable living environment for all – guides the management of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council
Servicing the Community
By upholding high governance and operational standards, we continuously improve on our processes to serve the diverse needs of our community.
Managing Environmental Impact
Committed to environmental sustainability, we actively implement and maintain eco-friendly infrastructure in our town while adopting responsible consumption practices.
Engaging our Stakeholders
Residents
We are committed to providing our residents with a better, greener and healthier living environment, where everyone is included and enjoys a high quality of life.
Volunteers
We work with our volunteers, equipping them with the knowledge and resources they need to fulfil their commitment.
Staff
We value our staff and care about their well-being and development. Suppliers / Government Agencies / People’s Sector We regard our partners as essential to robust governance by emphasising communication, partnership and shared goals.
Our Stakeholders
Residents
Volunteers
Staff
Government Agencies
People's Sector
Suppliers
Residents
Key Topics and Concerns
- A clean, green and safe estate that promotes quality living for all
- Prudent use of service and conservancy funds
- Inclusiveness of infrastructure for all residents
- Avenues for resident engagement
How We Respond
- Put up information on Town Council’s communication channels
- Ensure contracts awarded are assessed to meet good industry price-quality metrics
- Ground-up initiatives such as dialogues, town hall forums and community gardens
- Organise events and activities
- Encourage participation in town improvement projects, including seeking feedback through friends of Town Council programme, and from residents
Volunteers
Key Topics and Concerns
- Sense of belonging to the town
- Adequacy of resource support for programmes
- Availability of support for capability building
How We Respond
- Work closely with town councillors/grassroots leaders
- Collaborate with partner agencies on knowledge-
sharing sessions and training
Staff
Key Topics and Concerns
- Caring employer
- Opportunity for career development
- Quality of internal communication
- Safe workplace
- Relevant skills and knowledge
How We Respond
- Provide a safe work environment
- Staff bonding activities
- Career progression
- Training and development programmes
- Regular staff meetings and sharing sessions
Government Agencies
Key Topics and Concerns
- Active role in advancing SG Green
Plan 2030 goals
How We Respond
- Compliance with SSB policies
- Collaborate to advance common
goals
People's Sector
Key Topics and Concerns
- Reduce negative environmental impact
- Champion sustainable practices
How We Respond
- Collaborate with People’s Sector on relevant programmes
- Promote People’s Sector practices by featuring
content on Town Council’s communication channels
Suppliers
Key Topics and Concerns
- Clarity in rules of engagement
- Collaboration opportunities in community projects
How We Respond
- Adopt contractual terms and specifications for sustainability
- Work with contractors on clean and green projects
Ecological Assets
Zhenghua Park
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
Chestnut Nature Park
Ulu Pandan Park Connector
Bukit Panjang Butterfly Garden
Dairy Farm Nature Park
Pangsua Park Connector
The Way Forwards
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Our Sustainability Journey
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Targets Achieved By 2030
Our Divisions
“Everyone can play a part, share ideas, organise efforts and be part of the sustainability conversation in the Bukit Panjang community.”
MR LIANG ENG HWA
MP for Bukit Panjang SMC
Chairman of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council
Sustainability can become second nature to us only when we internalise our lifestyles. This includes everyday matters such as the kind of electrical appliances we use at home to the food we consume; the waste we generate through food packaging; saving water; keeping our estate clean; smoking responsibly; and how we commute.
Over the past few years, community gardening in Bukit Panjang has helped our residents to better appreciate food’s life cycle and how to build food resilience. In addition, it has helped residents to stay healthy and forge social bonds. Finally, these gardens have become part of our landscape. The whole gardening movement has become so popular that we want to, among other things, increase the number of gardens as well as implement new gardening technologies.
Previously, we explored vertical gardens, and now we are collaborating with National University of Singapore and Housing and Development Board on 3D-printed gardening solutions.
We are reviewing community gardening guidelines that include the dos and don’ts, such as how do we allocate plots in a fair manner, and a code of conduct among gardeners so it can be a harmonious activity for everyone.
Personally, I have been amazed at the increase in production value and quantity of our community gardens. In line with our food resilience goals, we focus on growing vegetables.
We also want to encourage sharing, and creating greater awareness among the community stakeholders such as the preschools and senior activity centres.
In a broader sense, we are planting more trees but, at the same time, we also check the health of our existing trees to ensure that they don’t pose safety risks. We have plans to harness the natural assets around us. For example, works on the northern face of the Rail Corridor, from Bukit Panjang to Kranji, are going to start soon, which will provide our residents with easier access to more recreational spaces.
We are partnering with Land Transport Authority to install more electric vehicle charging points. Through the use of digital technology, we are slowly eliminating the use of paperwork in the Town Council’s administrative work. We strongly encourage our residents who have the digital know-how to use digital platforms to pay their service and conservancy charges. The welfare of our cleaning staff is very important to us, so we support the Progressive Wage Model to uplift their wages.
Everyone can play a part, share ideas, organise efforts and be part of the sustainability conversation in the Bukit Panjang community.
“If we can combine technology with a little creativity, the sky’s the limit. This is reflected in our food waste recycling initiative. We have used digesters to convert food waste into fertiliser, which can be used in the community gardens.”
MS SIM ANN
Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs &
Ministry of National Development
MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC (Bukit Timah)
Elected Member of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council
Sustainability is essential to our community’s well-being, and it starts from developing the right heart and habits towards making this possible.
The Town Council and community leaders have constantly promoted initiatives, projects and actions that residents can easily identify with and be a part of. For instance, we have a litter picking initiative called “Bin It Bukit Timah” that helps people understand the connection between keeping our environment clean and green. This exercise promotes a sense of mindfulness for our surroundings and helps us to cultivate an environmentally conscious mindset by taking good care of our neighbourhoods.
Another habit we sought to change was the way we communicated with residents. A lot of our communication is via paper-based medium, and we asked ourselves if there was a way to reduce our reliance on paper while keeping in touch with residents. We turned to digitalisation as a solution but are also mindful that our elderly are not used to communicating digitally.
To overcome this, we have an ongoing initiative called the Bukit Timah Digital Communications Registry that contains a register of households and their preferred mode of communication – digital or hard copy. It is a labour-intensive task but reflects that Bukit Timah is a community that balances our sustainability principles and meaningful engagement with our residents seriously. We are prepared to put in the extra effort to bridge the two sets of objectives.
If we can combine technology with a little creativity, the sky’s the limit. This is reflected in our food waste recycling initiative. We have used digesters to convert food waste into fertiliser, which can be used in the community gardens. One way we can harness its potential is to scale and gamify our efforts in incentivising residents. For example, residents could deposit food waste and measure their contribution by weight, and households that contribute a certain amount could be offered a rebate in their service and conservancy charges bill. It could promote circularity. These are examples of how we utilise innovation to drive our efforts. We strongly welcome residents with great ideas to write in and share with us too!
Finally, a vital part of the sustainability drive for us is nurturing the green areas we manage. One such project I look forward to is the two nature trails in the northern part of Ulu Pandan Connector. The Town is committed to bringing residents more sustainability-driven ideas and innovations. We see this as a collective effort where residents, community leaders and other stakeholders come together to co-create a vision of Bukit Timah’s sustainability.
“Development and nature are not a zero- sum game. We require imagination, attitude and design that make the best use of nature. After all, humans are part of the ecosystem.”
DR VIVIAN BALAKRISHNAN
Minister for Foreign Affairs
MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC (Cashew)
Elected Member of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council
We have inherited a precious green lung in our constituency in the form of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, and Cashew is nestled right against it. This green legacy and heritage is not just for our constituency but for everyone in Singapore. Increasingly, over the years, more green corridors, park connectors, jogging trails and cycling paths have been built. We are also looking forward to more green spaces in the coming years. As someone who used to cycle 20 years ago, I have observed how we have used innovation to upgrade the cycling network while protecting the green spaces.
We are building an elevated skywalk over Bukit Timah Canal that will provide people access – from the old KTM railway station in Bukit Timah to Botanic Gardens, Newton and Rochor areas. This will be part of a “green corridor” that connects Woodlands to Keppel, in addition to a new link that will connect the Central Catchment Area, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Botanic Gardens. These developments will provide residents and nature lovers a connected path to access the various green spaces seamlessly.
We can develop, upgrade and plan for the future in an integrated way. Development and nature are not a zero-sum game. We require imagination, attitude and design that make the best use of nature. But it’s not done on a superficial level; it’s down to the finer details, such as the construction materials used for the footpaths, and building slightly elevated walkways so as to avoid trampling the undergrowth. For example, every time we build a new canal, there is an opportunity to integrate such a water feature into park connectors that lead to the reserves. After all, humans are part of the ecosystem – it helps to shape their collective community memories.
Another strong emphasis we place in Holland-Bukit Panjang is recycling, as we always strive to bring in the principles of circular economy. It gives an additional boost to the work that the Town Council has been doing since the time of Dr Teo Ho Pin, who as then-Chairman of the Town Council had championed the practices of the 3Rs (recycling, reducing and reusing) to minimise our ecological impact. The SG Green Plan 2030 helps to catalyse our longstanding efforts in these areas.
It’s important to note that many of our initiatives stem from useful feedback and suggestions by our residents, who hope to play their part. And we’ll continue working closely together with them to strike a balance between development and environmental sustainability.
“Preservation of nature is important to me and the residents. But equally, providing housing for young families so that they can be closer to their parents is also in keeping with our vision of creating inclusive and intergenerational communities. They are both priorities and are not mutually exclusive.”
MR CHRISTOPHER DE SOUZA
MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC (Ulu Pandan)
Vice-Chairman of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council
In Ulu Pandan, our focus is on enhancing accessibility to nature for residents. Preservation of nature is important to me and the residents. But equally, providing housing for young families so that they can be closer to their parents is also in keeping with our vision of creating inclusive and intergenerational communities. They are both priorities and are not mutually exclusive.
With careful calibration, the eastern part of Dover Forest will be developed as a Housing and Development Board (HDB) precinct, while the western part will be preserved. Agencies that are working on this project, such as HDB and National Parks Board (NParks), will work in sync to ensure that the green surroundings are respected.
There are several initiatives that serve the same objective. For example, the Rail Corridor is a major green artery that runs through Ulu Pandan – up from Blackmoore Drive to Ghim Moh. It covers many estates in between – Blackmore Drive, Holland Green, Greenleaf, Bukit Sedap, Mount Sinai, Jelita, Ghim Moh, Ulu Pandan CC and, finally, a tunnel near Buona Vista MRT station. Throughout these areas, we have worked towards providing several access points to this “green lung” that serves our residents.
Soon, the Ministry of National Development and NParks are going to construct a footpath through Clementi Forest that will lead through the rail corridor near Holland Green Linear Park, through Ulu Pandan Road, which would eventually lead to the Ulu Pandan Park Connector near Pine Grove. This is situated right opposite the western part of Dover Forest. And in the bigger scheme of things, all these separate green areas connect with each other, providing a sense of continuity.
Another project that we are hoping to develop is the disused Jurong Railway Line, which shoots off from the Rail Corridor underneath Clementi Road near Sunset Way, goes behind Sunset Way and across the railway bridge towards Sungei Ulu Pandan Canal.
All these projects align with the SG Green Plan 2030 because we want to be able to create sustainable and accessible green spaces throughout the constituency.
We encourage our residents to provide feedback on matters that have a bearing on the community at large. I take great pride in sharing that a lot of the access points to water bodies, parks and green lungs in Ulu Pandan came about as a result of residents’ suggestions.
“The initiatives in our community are geared towards achieving the zero-waste and zero-emission objectives. This requires every citizen to be conscious of the waste he or she generates, and learn how to become a part of the circular economy.”
MR EDWARD CHIA BING HUI
MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC (Zhenghua)
Vice-Chairman of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council
Our sustainability push is driven by pilot programmes with the intention of scaling to other parts of Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council. Some of these initiatives are low-hanging fruit that have been designed to involve residents and to make sustainability part of one’s lifestyle and consciousness.
For one such pilot project, we have tied up with SembCorp to run a monthly Cash for Trash collection initiative. Previously, such programmes used to be sporadic. From residents’ perspective, it is important to have a certain regularity and fixed location so as to build a consistent following. We have the Cash for Trash programme every third Saturday of the month (pre-COVID-19) across four to five different locations. It is the modern-day karung guni [discarded items collector in Malay] system.
From the collector’s perspective – in this case, SembCorp – it is more efficient than going door to door, which generates more carbon footprint. If this works in Zhenghua, it could be replicated in the other divisions in Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council.
The initiatives in our community are geared towards achieving the zero-waste and zero-emission objectives. This requires every citizen to be conscious of the waste he or she generates, and learn how to become a part of the circular economy. Due to rapid industrialisation in the past four decades, the way we consume resources has become linear – we eat and throw, and we buy and throw. During our grandparents’ kampung days, everything was circular. We need to reintroduce circularity and opportunities to implement them.
We can leverage technology and innovation to ensure that there is green impact as well as economic impact. The commercial enterprises can scale quickly and provide new job opportunities in the green sector. Once we begin to achieve tangible outcomes, we can move away from the altruistic notion and sustainability will become a part of our daily consciousness.
Introducing initiatives is important but how they are being communicated is also important, so that residents are aware of how they can get involved more meaningfully with their community projects.
Hear What Our
Residents Have To Say
