MANY Tampines residents he meets on house visits remain concerned about Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat’s condition, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said yesterday.

They have also said they will pray for his recovery, Mr Masagos added, responding to questions from reporters on his fellow Tampines GRC MP who collapsed during a Cabinet meeting on May 12 after a stroke.

“This is the kind of society we want: people who care for someone who has done so much, dedicated his life for Singapore,” he said.

Mr Heng is in stable condition in hospital in intensive care.

“The procedures and process that he has gone through have been good. But we need to give him time to recover,” Mr Masagos noted.

He added that residents who want to leave their good wishes for Mr Heng can do so at the Tampines Central Community Club. It will then put the messages together and present them to him when he recovers.

Meanwhile, the remaining four MPs in Tampines GRC are taking turns to conduct his weekly meet-the-people sessions. They will also do house visits on Mr Heng’s behalf and handle municipal issues.

Mr Masagos reiterated that the team is focused on ensuring Our Tampines Hub – Singapore’s first integrated community facility – opens on schedule. The 5.3ha project, which will launch in stages starting from November this year, will include a hawker centre, a one-stop centre for government services, a community kitchen for seniors, and sports and retail facilities.

ziliang@sph.com.sg

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AN ONLINE educational portal on mosquito-borne diseases was launched yesterday, to provide easy access to information on dengue fever and the Zika virus as well as how to prevent their spread.

Developed by global life-science company Bayer, the portal comes with interactive quizzes and a “virtual trainer” that guides users through the different components within the site.

Bayer said the Bayer Dengue Learning Lab, which will be made available to all schools within the South West District and can be accessed for free by the public, was designed to make learning fun.

It developed the portal with the National Environment Agency and South West Community Development Council (CDC).

At the launch at New Town Secondary School yesterday, South West District mayor Low Yen Ling reminded students and grassroots volunteers that everyone has a part to play in fighting dengue and Zika.

Earlier this month, Singapore reported its first imported Zika case, a 48-year-old resident of Watten Estate in Bukit Timah who had been in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The dengue virus also remains prevalent here, with more than 7,720 reported cases since the start of the year.

Ms Low said dengue cases tend to peak during the upcoming warmer months from June to October due to the accelerated breeding and maturation cycles of Aedes mosquitoes.

“As we enter the traditional peak season for dengue, it is all the more important for the community to stay vigilant and… (keep) our homes, gardens and community spaces mozzie-free.”

samboh@sph.com.sg

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THE People’s Action Party (PAP) team in Aljunied GRC remains focused on delivering services to residents and conveying their concerns to the Government, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said yesterday.

He was speaking to reporters after a visit to Eunos ward in the GRC held by the opposition Workers’ Party since 2011, and where the PAP got 49 per cent of votes in last September’s general election.

Asked how he would evaluate the progress of the team in Aljunied since the GE, Mr Masagos said they were “as united as ever”.

“Their focus is to bring services the People’s Association (PA) brings to residents all around Singapore.

“The political battle is over. More importantly, we must make sure we serve our residents with the services, the amenities they deserve – and have as much feedback as possible so residents have a channel for them to bring up their concerns, complaints, to the Government as quickly and effectively as possible.”

Mr Masagos, a PA board member, added a new adviser to grassroots organisations in Paya Lebar will be appointed to take over from Murali Pillai, who was elected Bukit Batok MP in the May 7 by-election.

In the meantime, other grassroots advisers are helping residents. Accompanying Mr Masagos on his visit were Aljunied GRC grassroots advisers Chua Eng Leong, Victor Lye and Shamsul Kahar – who contested Aljunied GRC in last year’s general election alongside Mr Murali and former MP Yeo Guat Kwang.

Hougang grassroots adviser Lee Hong Chuang was also present yesterday.

Ministerial community visits are organised regularly to help introduce new ministers to Singaporeans and keep the bond between the Government and the people strong, Mr Masagos said.

Asked if there was any significance to his visiting an opposition constituency, he added: “It does not matter if it is an opposition ward or non-opposition ward because ministers serve everybody.”

Such visits are also a chance for officials to look at possible improvements to facilities, especially those under the visiting minister’s charge.

Mr Masagos said he was happy to see the market and hawker centre, where he spoke to stallholders and residents, was running well.

Wet markets and hawker centres are managed by the National Environment Agency, a statutory board under his ministry.

“There are some municipal issues they raised but this ought to be settled by the town council. Otherwise, people are quite happy with the amenities,” he added.

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MORE will be done to protect Pulau Ubin’s flora and fauna, including plans to restore its northern shoreline, build a coastal boardwalk and support the recovery of endangered plants and animals.

Announcing these initiatives yesterday at Pulau Ubin, Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Desmond Lee said more must be done to protect the rich biodiversity teeming on the island.

Noting that it has more than 720 native plant species and over 500 animal species, including some not found on mainland Singapore, he added: “This is remarkable but we must do more.

“We have plans to restore Ubin’s eroding shoreline, which will serve as a base for more of Pulau Ubin’s flora and fauna to be restored in the near future.”

Shoreline restoration was one of the earliest priorities for The Ubin Project, announced in 2014 to generate ideas from the public on how to retain the island’s rustic charm.

Erosion has badly affected about 40m of northern Ubin, threatening critically endangered species like the Eye of the Crocodile tree and leading to the closure of Noordin Beach – a popular camping site – in 2013 for public safety.

A year-long study, which was concluded this month by the National Parks Board (NParks), found that changes in wave conditions partly as a result of ship wakes, or waves generated by the movements of vessels, as well as changes in land use were among the key causes of erosion.

NParks has identified possible measures to restore the shoreline, such as using man-made rock structures and sand to widen the existing beaches, growing more mangroves and adding wooden poles along the shoreline to mitigate the impact of waves.

NParks will call a tender and works are expected to start next year and end by 2020.

An impact assessment will be done, said NParks’ director for Pulau Ubin, Robert Teo.

“Until we call a tender, we won’t be sure how much (the work) is going to cost. It depends on the magnitude of the designs and the amount of work that’s going to be done,” he added.

A coastal boardwalk of about 500m, part of which will extend into the sea, will be built at Noordin Beach, which will reopen when restoration works are completed. From the boardwalk, visitors can view coastal mangroves and hills.

Yesterday, NParks also unveiled a design for new otter holts – which are dens for the critically endangered Oriental Small-clawed Otter. By the end of this year, two holts will be installed on the island which will allow researchers to monitor and study their behaviour.

Other species’ recovery efforts include installing 30 bat boxes across the island for bats to roost, and reintroducing endangered native orchids to parts of the island.

At the event to mark the International Day for Biological Diversity, which was yesterday, Mr Lee joined more than a hundred participants to plant 100 saplings at the mangrove arboretum in the Ubin Living Lab.

Among them were executive manager Sean Lam, 47, and his wife and son.

He said: “This is one of the last places in built-up Singapore where you can enjoy such nature. Without the mangroves, the soil will be eroded and the next generation, they won’t have anything to see.”

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