Plan for new school village in Zone A raises concerns at CPU meeting
The issuing of the urban conditions plan (PCU) for the land plot B1 of Zone A of the new landfills has raised several questions from the members of the Urban Planning Committee (CPU).
In the first plenary meeting of the committee, held yesterday afternoon, several concerns were raised by committee members regarding the planning of the area. One of the most active members was Chan Chui I, who called on the government to provide more detailed information on the project and how the school village will function in practice.
Chan was concerned with the linking of the several plots that will be part of this project, as well as traffic flow in the area for both vehicles and pedestrians.
Another of the questions raised by Chan was on the lack of planning for bicycle paths and lanes in the area. He suggested that the flyovers and underground passages could include these to allow people to commute using bicycles in this new area of the city.
The government representatives, including the Land and Urban Construction Bureau’s (DSSCU) deputy director Mak Tat Io, admitted that bicycles are not part of the government’s policies for city mobility. He explained that both the flyovers and the underground passages planned are for the exclusive use of pedestrians under the policy of facilitating commuting on foot, which complements the public transport policy.
Justifying the choice for the above or under streets system, Mak explained that while the flyovers aim to separate the pedestrian from the vehicular traffic on the major roads in the area, the underground passages are mostly planned to provide access to the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) stations that will be built in the same area.
Chan also questioned the lack of detail and information of the PCU regarding the use of the underground space, noting that during public consultation for the general planning this point was regarded as essential.
On this matter, the director of DSSCU, Lai Weng Leong, explained that the PCU only includes the “mandatory” matters that need to be made public regarding that particular condition for a plot, noting that all the details and specifications will be part of the final project of the buildings to be constructed.
Chan and other members were concerned with the probability that parents will pick up and drop off their kids at school by car, as they currently do, which causes congestion in the traffic due to a lack of planning for waiting areas for this purpose.
Mak noted on this matter that the government policy is to facilitate the pedestrian commute combined with public transportation such as the LRT and the buses, to avoid the need of using private vehicles to access schools and other public use venues.
To allocate large areas for the stopping of vehicles outside schools clashes with the transport policy which is already consuming considerable government resources, Mak explained.
As announced in late November last year by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Elsie Ao Ieong, the school village of zone A, is a new concept aiming to integrate several school facilities, which will also share some other public resources such as sports venues and other facilities.
According to Ao Ieong, when complete, the school village should take up 13,000 students from primary and secondary school levels.
The plan includes eight schools, one teaching center, and one sports facility that would function in an integrated mode.
The concerns from the committee members come with the acknowledgment that there are already some issues in the integration of the land plots in the new area. For example, the plot B4, dedicated to public housing, started construction before the rules set by the Urban Master Plan took force, and do not include the possibility of being linked to the future LRT via underground passages, among other aspects, as the government side admitted at the meeting.
