June Published by Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council MIC(P) 042/09/2016. Launching our revamped Pang Sua Pond with a bang!

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1 June Published by Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council MIC(P) 042/09/2016 Launching our revamped Pang Sua Pond with a bang!

2 talk of the town Water and Wellness Pang Sua Pond, next to the Cashew CC, looks like it s been there forever. Actually, it was built in the 1990s as a stormwater pond to prevent flooding, and also as additional water catchment. A third and equally important reason for the pond was so those of us in the area could have a place to relax and enjoy nature. This latest upgrade to the pond, done under the PUB s Active, Beautiful and Clean waters project, added a boardwalk, a stage and landscaped floating wetland plants. There is also a 3G Wellness Centre, featuring a fitness corner, a roof terrace and activity rooms, to bring people of all ages together. With our MPs, PM Lee Hsien Loong officiated at the opening of the revamped pond and the wellness centre, declaring them open with great fireworks and a spectacular light show. He was delighted we were able to enjoy the new facilities, and he had one message for us to take home: We have got to treat water very, very seriously. Hundreds of us all excited came to the opening of the revamped Pang Sua Pond. PM Lee at the opening of the 3G Wellness Centre. 2 Holland - Bukit Panjang Town Council

3 The 3G Wellness Centre built by the Town Council connects with the boardwalk that curves over and around a new floating wetland growing on the pond. It links the Community Centre to the Wellness Centre to Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood 5 Park. Our MPs enjoying the moment when they cut the ribbons to open the Centre. Studying a PUB exhibition in the Centre explaining their ABC Programme. Holland - Bukit Panjang Town Council 3

4 talk of the town Auspiciously, it rained on 21 May as Dr Teo Ho Pin opened the rebuilt community garden at Block 402 Fajar Road. Now it has concrete plot frames and pathways and is covered with netting. He thanked everyone who had worked hard to make this garden a success, and added that Bukit Panjang has thirteen of these gardens and another five are on the way. The exercise you get in gardening helps keep you active and healthy, he said. The 21 plots were allotted When she was young, Mdm Toh to 21 families. Joseph Giok Kiow helped her mother It also lets you make friends of neighbours with similar interests. And grow mother with her plot. She grows the same vegetables she and Alvin Toh help their farm in Lim Chu Kang. Now she the fresh organic vegetables that everyone has green fingers. She tells grew then, but in the corridor us what to do. Mainly it s at her flat and in her plot in the wants. The veggies grown here have already just watering. When it community garden. She prefers raised $566 for local charities! hasn t rained enough! veggies to flowers, says her son. More Community Gardens Four of the 16 gardeners who grow plants beside Block 237 Bukit Panjang Ring Road (left to right) Mr Chang Lai Kuan, Mdm Toh Lay Kim, Mdm Tan Wan Yong and Mdm Ng Soon May. Rain. It s not a thing gardeners complain about unless it damages their plants. But it can turn unpaved pathways between their plant beds to slippery slideways. Not nice. Not safe. To correct this, the Town Council recently upgraded the Zone 7 RC community garden with better pathways and facilities. Most of the plants are now ready for harvesting. As our photo shows, the gardeners will harvest some for a resident, even when it s raining! 4 Holland - Bukit Panjang Town Council

5 Keep clean, Singapore Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli launched the Keep clean, Singapore campaign with an exhibition and event at the community hall by Block 213 Petir Road on 30 April. When he sounded the horn, everyone fanned out to pick litter and, as you can see, they found quite a lot. About 60 pupils fom Westview and Zhenghua primary schools did not find much litter in Cashew s N5 park at a later event organised by the Zone 4 RC. I think it s a combination of good work by the cleaners and better effort by the people who use the park. said Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. It was good to learn what it s like to be a cleaner, said Avani Godge from Westview Primary. It s tiring in the heat. Now we know we ll want to keep it clean so they don t have so much to do. If you were around Art Street or the Hawker Centre in Bukit Panjang the morning of 14 May, one of scores of volunteers (or Dr Teo Ho Pin himself) would have approached you and offered help and advice in our fight against dengue. Our keys to success are the five steps that deny mosquitoes any place to breed. We have found many cases where they are breeding in the water that can collect in plant pots, on top of the hardened soil that can develop there, said an NEA officer. So now, besides remembering to turn all containers upside down, change the water in flower vases and empty flower pot plates, we must remember to loosen the hardened soil around our pot plants. Do this, and we can win this war....and mosquito-free! Holland - Bukit Panjang Town Council 5

6 talk of the town A typical 1. First things first, and PO Tan updates with the foreman of the cleaners for these blocks on any matters-in-hand or upcoming. 2. Going up, he checks the lights and condition of the liftcar. 3. And makes sure the alarm bell is working properly. Property Officer Y C Tan is responsible for 23 blocks in Bukit Panjang Estate. Under the Estate Inspection Schedule, every block is to be checked at least once a month. Our photographer follows him on a typical day. At the office at 8am, he checks the feedback that has come in overnight or over the weekend. Mondays excepted, there are usually about 10 items-to-be-attended-to that have been added to the items he already has in hand. He ll make calls to check on progress with contractors, arrange appointments with residents, get up-to-the minute with the foremen of his cleaners and confirm residents are satisfied with outcomes. Usually around 10am he ll take public transport to check one of his blocks. On the same trip, Tan explained, I ll handle some cases that need to be attended to, like a water seepage case, or a broken railing I ve asked a contractor to mend. Today, communicating what needs to be done or has been done is simple. The officer takes a photo of the item with his smartphone and sends it to his foreman or contractor. When it s fixed, they send a photo to show that. But I will always double check on the quality of work done by a contractor, Tan said. 4. At the top of the block, he makes sure the roof access is padlocked. 5. He checks the rubbish chute area and the hopper mechanism. 6. All staircases are checked and anything amiss, photographed. 7. Checking the padlock on one of the cleaner s water taps. 8. This is a no-no: who is using the dry riser cabinet for storage? 9. Advising a resident on the importance of clutter-free dry-risers. 10. Darts are damaging the wall plaster: the board must be removed. 11. If all the common areas were as clear as this, hours would be saved. 6 Holland - Bukit Panjang Town Council

7 day in the life of a Property Officer 12. The common areas in the block checked, he checks those outside. 13.The drains, the incense burners, the landscaping, is everything right? 14. The link buildings, carparks, fitness corners and all the pathways. 15. And the playgrounds. Checking outside takes longer than inside! Back at the office After his Inspection, PO Tan settles down to two other parts of his job Rectification and Communication. Work orders need to be drafted, conservancy standards reported, residents contacted. On his computer, he grades everything he saw this morning. Was is Good, Below Average, Unsatisfactory or Neglectful. If a contractor s work rates in the last two categories, the contractor has to pay liquidated damages. In his spare time he s working for a BSc in Facilities Management at SUSS. You will always need my line of work, he says. And he loves it. I like getting out and about. I like the variety. Every day is different. And every day you can make a difference! 16. Back to the computer and the phone. There s an amazing amount of work to do when you handle the maintenance of a whole neighbourhood. 17. There are reports and work orders to handle. 18. And residents to update. Holland - Bukit Panjang Town Council 7

8 S&CC Rebates All eligible Singaporean households* will get an additional half a month of S&CC rebates this year. contact the Enquiries Line 1800n total, each eligible Singaporean household will receive 1.5 to 3.5 months of S&CC * You can(mondays to Fridays, 8.30am to 5pm) or I rebate, depending on their HDB flat type. The rebate will be disbursed over the months of April 2017, July 2017, October 2017 and January 2018 as shown below: APR & 2-Room 3 & 4-Room 5-Room Executive & MultiGeneration free 免费 sccrebates@mailbox.hdb.gov.sg to find out your household s S&CC rebate eligibility. JUL 2017 OCT 2017 free 免费 JAN 2018 free 免费 percuma percuma percuma இலவசõ இலவசõ இலவசõ APR 2017 JUL 2017 OCT 2017 JAN 2018 free percuma இலவசõ APR 2017 JUL 2017 OCT 2017 JAN 2018 免费 APR 2017 JUL 2017 OCT 2017 Congratulations to the winners of the Contest in the last issue of Talk of the Town: Ng Sheu Hoi - SXXXX426Z; Ong Lay See - SXXXX593Z; Cindy Yeo Hwee Chin - SXXXX601E; Woon Poh Suan - SXXXX061F; Chan Poh Hong - SXXXX843E; Tee How Ting - SXXXX292J; Ng Soon Kit - SXXXX296Z; Wong Yew Lam - SXXXX656I; Chua Eng Hwee - SXXXX663H; Yong Eng Meng - SXXXX327D. PRINTED BY IMAGE PRINTERS PTE LTD