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NO NEED TO NEGOTIATE THE STAIRS NOW: Ms Irene Toh gives a thumbs-up to the Singapore Power building's new ramps and special wheelchair-friendly lifts. -- PHOTO: SINGAPORE POWER
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FROM next April, all new buildings must have wheelchair-friendly routes connecting their entrances with surrounding bus stops, buildings and parks.
The move is part of a government effort to ensure that the disabled, the elderly and those with infants in prams have unrestricted access not just within a building but in the neighbourhood as well.
The new measures are included in the latest revision to a barrier-free access code which lists a series of guidelines that buildings constructed after 1990 must incorporate to ensure easy mobility for everyone.
Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu announced yesterday that the revision - the third since 1995 - had been completed.
Aside from improving 'connectivity' between buildings, the code also calls for existing 'accessible' infrastructure to be beefed up.
Earlier, MRT stations, for instance, were required to have only one entrance that would be accessible to all. Now, the stipulation has been extended to at least one entrance on both sides of the road.
Also, lifts must be fitted with grab bars for the elderly and Braille and tactile markings for the blind. The emergency call bell must be connected to a blinking light to help those who cannot hear.
Speaking at a seminar on how to improve accessibility, she said the Government is 'strongly urging' the management and owners of older buildings - those built before 1990 - to comply with the code. Compliance for them is voluntary unless they are undergoing major renovations.
Of particular interest are buildings in areas where there is 'high pedestrian traffic' such as Orchard Road, Bras Basah and Shenton Way, said Ms Fu. Only about 60 per cent of buildings in these areas currently have barrier-free access.
The Building and Construction Authority, on its part,
has already approached those who own and manage older buildings in Orchard Road and the Central Business District to 'persuade' them to tap a $40 million Accessibility Fund to introduce ramps,
disabled-friendly toilets and other features that help make the buildings accessible to all.
Even as it goes about convincing building owners to adopt basic accessibility features like ramps, the BCA is also encouraging others to enhance principles of 'universal design', said BCA chief executive officer John Keung.
Rather than build staircases at the main entrance of a building, and then supplement it with ramps for the disabled, universal design embraces solutions - such as smooth kerb-free or staircase-free surfaces - that can be used by all.
Wheelchair users such as economist Julian Wee, 30, also hope Singapore soon makes a leap from 'accessible' to 'universal' design.
Photographs of recent efforts to improve accessibility here, he said, included an unsheltered ramp walkway next to a covered staircase designed to protect people from rain, said Mr Wee.
Said Mr Wee: 'Rather than build a sheltered staircase and then forget to ensure the ramp walkways are sheltered too, why not have just one solution for all?'
radhab@sph.com.sg
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