'Very inconvenient': New residents at Tengah face blocked paths, long walks through dusty construction sites

SINGAPORE: Since moving to Tengah in the west of Singapore a few weeks ago, Mrs Amy Ong has had to take long walks from her flat in the wee hours of nearly every morning. 

She and her husband run a cooked food stall at a Serangoon coffee shop, and it takes them an hour to get there from their home at Block 133C in Plantation Grange – including a 30-minute walk to Bukit Batok Road where they can get a taxi.

"It's just very inconvenient," Mrs Ong, 48, told CNA last Tuesday (Oct 3) at the foot of her block, after alighting from a private-hire car with her husband, their arms laden with items for their new home.

With limited public transport options in Tengah, the couple takes taxis or private-hire cars home. But going out is an issue as the pick-up point at Block 133C is not yet reflected on ride-hailing apps.

Residents of a few housing blocks at the 700ha Tengah town started collecting their keys on Aug 29.

As of Sep 26, about 295 out of 2,333 units in the first two Tengah projects – Plantation Acres and Plantation Grange – have collected their keys, said the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

Most of Tengah – a designated "car-lite" town – is still under construction, including a bus interchange at Tengah Boulevard, Tengah MRT station and a neighbourhood centre.

The estate's sole bus stop is located along Plantation Crescent, next to Block 111 at Plantation Acres. It is served only by bus service 992, which plies a route between Tengah and Bukit Batok interchange.

For Mrs Ong and other residents of Plantation Grange – which lies deeper within Tengah – it takes 10 to 15 minutes to walk to the bus stop. If they want to walk to Bukit Batok Road, where more public transport options are available, they have to walk another 10 minutes.

DUST, HEAT, CONSTRUCTION

The distance between Plantation Grange and Bukit Batok Road is about 1km, according to Google Maps. On foot, it is about a 20-minute walk for this reporter, through dust, heat and construction zones.

Private-hire cars or taxis have to be guided to Plantation Grange via Tengah Drive, as the road for vehicles at Plantation Crescent remains blocked.  

Besides the distance and lack of transport options, other home owners among Tengah's pioneer batch of residents also said they had to contend with blocked footpaths. 

As most of the housing blocks are still under construction, residents can only take pedestrian paths instead of cutting through void decks. 

Finance executive Nurul Atiqah said she has been taking the same footpath to her fiance's flat in Block 133C since he collected his keys a month ago. 

The 33-year-old is helping her fiance with the flat's renovations and walks there from Bukit Batok Road after work. 

She recalled an occasion last month when her usual path through Plantation Crescent was blocked by a gate due to construction, forcing her to take a detour. 

Mrs Ong and her husband, Jeffrey Ong, encountered a similar obstruction sometime last month when their path to the main road was blocked. 

"I waited about 20 minutes for the barrier to clear. I asked the workers if I could pass after the crane was clear, but they did not know. No one could move the barrier," said Mr Ong, 60. 

Another resident of the same block, project manager Mr Lim, said that while some accessibility issues were to be expected, he was worried about safety. 

"There is only one bus and at night, this road is very dark and there is construction going around, it's ... not a safe place," said the 51-year-old, who moved in two weekends ago. 

HDB said it was aware of feedback from residents on the obstruction of roads and footpaths caused by ongoing construction work.

"We have instructed contractors not to park along roads or block the entrances or exits of the housing developments, and are working with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to maintain a safe and convenient walking path for residents to the nearest bus stops at all times," said a spokesperson.

LTA said it recognised the challenges some residents faced in accessing the bus stop, and will work with contractors to address the issues. It is also working with the MP for the area, Dr Amy Khor (PAP-Hong Kah North), and grassroot leaders to improve bus transport connectivity in Tengah.

Dr Khor said in a Facebook post last month that bus service 992 will be extended as more amenities are completed within Tengah. 

Bus service 992, which was introduced on Sep 24, connects residents to Bukit Batok MRT station and bus interchange, as well as key amenities such as a supermarket, polyclinic and West Mall, an LTA spokesperson said. Bus service 992 was previously numbered 944, which had a slightly different route through Bukit Batok West Avenue 6. 

Along Bukit Batok Road, bus services 160, 180 and 993 connect residents to Jurong East and Bukit Panjang, the spokesperson added. 

"With the completion of more housing developments which are further away from Bukit Batok Road, LTA has plans to enhance public transport connectivity to other areas, including Jurong East." 

VENDING MACHINE, GROCERY SERVICE

Unlike most other Build-to-Order (BTO) developments which are built within existing towns, Tengah is a new town where amenities and infrastructure are still being built, said HDB in response to residents' feedback.

It pointed to interim measures put in place for residents' convenience, such as the complimentary bus shuttle service that ferried residents to Bukit Batok until it was replaced by bus service 992. 

"We are also taking practical measures to minimise construction disamenities, even though we seek the understanding of residents that it is not possible to totally eliminate construction disamenities given the scale of ongoing construction," said an HDB spokesperson.

To mitigate the issue of dust arising from construction works, contractors have increased their frequency of road cleaning to twice weekly, the spokesperson added. 

"We have also instructed all HDB construction worksites in Tengah to step up their housekeeping measures to ensure that debris and dust from their construction activities are kept within their work sites as far as possible."

Shops at Plantation Plaza Neighbourhood Centre – which will have a supermarket, F&B outlets and clinic – are expected to open progressively from the second quarter of 2024. In the meantime, HDB plans to bring in vending machines offering hot food at the void deck of Block 111A in Plantation Acres.

HDB is also working with a supermarket operator to deploy a mobile grocery truck service in Tengah to serve residents.

"We are trying our best to bring these additional amenities in by November 2023 or early December 2023, when we expect that the earliest batches of Tengah residents may have completed their renovations and started to move in.

"We hope that these temporary provisions will help to bring some comfort and convenience to the earliest batches of Tengah residents, before the town’s other amenities progressively open," said the spokesperson.