RETIRED school bus attendant Yeo Guat Hua began going out less around a year ago as her osteoporosis was getting worse.

Steps in the nearby town centre made it difficult for the 77-year-old Bedok Reservoir View resident to move around in her wheelchair.

But this changed in March when Bedok Town Centre’s pedestrian mall was revamped and equipped with wheelchair-friendly ramps.

The 320m stretch between Bedok North Street 1 and New Upper Changi Road also received more landscaping, new street benches and lighting as well as signs that point out where the wheelchair ramps are.

Madam Yeo’s daughter, financial planner Tan Cheng See, 48, said: “We come here for groceries and to eat breakfast at the hawker centre. The ramps make it a lot easier.”

Madam Yeo, whose younger daughter also uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis, said: “We will come here more often now.”

The upgrading works, which cost about $3 million, are part of the Housing Board’s Remaking Our Heartland (ROH) plans for the East Coast.

The scheme, started in 2007 to spruce up public housing estates, has also been introduced in Woodlands, Toa Pa-yoh, Pasir Ris, Dawson, Hougang, Yishun, Jurong Lake and Punggol.

Other new additions to Bedok include an integrated transport hub, a town plaza and an upcoming integrated complex. The latter, slated for completion next year, will house the Kampong Chai Chee Community Club and Bedok Public Library, among other facilities.

During a visit to Bedok Town Centre yesterday, cyclists, shoppers with trolleys and families with prams were seen using the new ramps along the walkway.

“I fell down the steps here once while carrying my groceries,” recalled retired nasi padang stall assistant Aisiah Abdul Basir, 70. “It’s better that they have these ramps.

“The more chairs the better. It’s good for old people like me – when our legs are tired, we can rest.”

About 200 retailers flanking the pedestrian mall also stand to benefit from the revamp, the HDB said.

Chairman of the Bedok Town Centre Merchants’ Association Khoo Hock Khim, 52, said: “It’s more lively after the upgrading. It’s something new and people like it when it’s refreshing.”

yeosamjo@sph.com.sg

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Trade between Singapore and Russia is below what it should be, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is looking to boost it with the proposed free-trade agreement (FTA) between the Republic and the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a member.

Similarly, there is “a lot more potential for growth” between Russia and ASEAN countries, he added.

Mr Lee made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with Russian news Tass at the Istana, ahead of his first working visit to the country.

He will meet government officials in Moscow till tomorrow, and will attend the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit tomorrow and on Friday in Sochi city along the Black Sea coast.

Mr Lee also disclosed there are advanced plans to build a Russian Cultural Centre in Singapore.

“We have found a site and it is a good location” he said.

“I look forward to the day when we see a Russian Orthodox onion-dome appearing in Singapore,” he added, referring to the architecture of Russian churches.

But boosting trade appears paramount.

Mr Lee noted the high level Russia-Singapore Inter-Governmental Commission was set up in 2009 to beef up co-operation in areas such as trade, investment and education.

“There is active participation on both sides – government, as well as business. But our trade is not in proportion to the potential,” he said.

Though bilateral trade has about quadrupled in the last 10 years, Russia is still “just our 21st largest trading partner”, he added.

In the same way, he said, “the economic ties between ASEAN countries and Russia have been growing but (it is not) commensurate with the importance of Russia in the world. This is gradually changing”, he said.

The proposed FTA between Singapore and the Eurasian Economic Union will boost Russia’s ties with individual ASEAN countries, which will “strengthen the ties between Russia and South-east Asia, and the ASEAN region as a whole”, he added.

Mr Lee’s agenda includes meeting Russian businessmen and executives to “get them interested in Singapore a bit”.

The last Singapore prime minister to go on such a mission to the Russian Federation was the late Lee Kuan Yew in 1990.

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PARKWAY Parade will stay shut at least until tomorrow for repairs to its fire protection system, compromised by a fire that occurred at the mall three days ago.

The closure includes the carpark so workers in the office tower, which is open, will have to park elsewhere.

“The fire caused damage to essential cabling for the fire protection system. We are working on reinstatement, followed by testing and commissioning,” said its general manager Jenny Khoo.

No one was injured when the fire broke out at a shop on level two of the seven-storey mall in Marine Parade around midnight on Sunday.

The building – managed by Lend Lease, including the carpark – was closed on Monday and yesterday for checks and rectification works.

Mall employees were manning a side entrance, only letting in those who said they were going to the adjoining office tower or the banks on level one, which were open.

A retailer who declined to be named said some goods placed on the floor of his shop at the basement were damaged. Some parts of the false ceiling had also collapsed.

“It’s not that bad. We are calling our insurance company to come down and take a look, before we write a report to the mall to claim compensation.”

A spokesman for Dairy Farm Group, which runs Giant and Cold Storage in the mall, said it had notified its insurers to assess the extent of damage.

Despite a notice at the main entrances indicating that the mall was closed, some bewildered shoppers were seen waving their hands in front of the automated glass doors.

Student Alexis Lee, 21, who went to the mall to buy groceries, was surprised to hear the news.

“It’s inconvenient but I’ll just go to the FairPrice nearby,” she said.

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Staff from Benjamin Lim’s school took care to ensure he was sensitively treated when police officers turned up on Jan 26 to speak to him, said State Counsel Wong Woon Kwong in court yesterday.

The Secondary 3 student’s parents were also kept informed of the situation, he noted, during his opening statement at a coroner’s inquiry into Benjamin’s death.

The 14-year-old was found dead at the foot of a Housing Board flat in Yishun where he lived, after being questioned by police earlier that day for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old girl.

“A serious offence involving the outrage of modesty of a very young girl” was reported on Jan 25, he said.

This prompted the police to visit North View Secondary School the next day, when they were unable to establish the boy’s identity initially. Camera footage had shown the boy wearing the school’s uniform.

Five plainclothes officers arrived in two unmarked cars at the school on Jan 26.

But, added Mr Wong, the school and police took steps to handle Benjamin sensitively throughout the process.

This included wearing civilian attire, allowing the principal to speak to the schoolboy to reassure him before the police interview and having the school counsellor join in the interview, he added.

Benjamin was also allowed to speak to his mother before going to the police station and was not restrained or handcuffed.

An officer also spoke to him in the car to put him at ease, and he was then interviewed in an open plan office.

The young boy was not placed with other adults in custody when waiting for his mother to bail him out after he was arrested, and was released within four hours of being taken to the station.

There were no signs of emotional distress or instability, said Mr Wong. Officers and school staff who interacted with the boy said he had not behaved unusually.

The only sign of stress he showed was when his mother spoke to him over the phone at school, Mr Wong added.

His mother and sister said he behaved normally at home as well, and had an “unremarkable reaction” when told he would not be attending a Secondary 3 school camp the following day.

The State Counsel stressed that much of the inquiry will seek to establish how the boy’s death occurred.

Benjamin’s family, including his parents and elder brother, were present in the gallery, and watched proceedings with a sombre expression.

Representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Education were also present.

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