The points raised by Mr Felix Kim Heok Eng touch on a familiar topic (Work processes: How did incomplete covered walkway come about?, Dec 9).
A few years ago, a new bus stop was constructed in front of my Housing Board block. More than a year later, only part of the covered walkway linking the bus stop to the nearest block of flats was completed.
The town council's explanation was that the last part of the walkway was under the purview of a different authority and hence needed approval before works could continue.
Another case, which was raised in Parliament in 2017, was of a covered walkway that stopped short of the entrance to Khatib MRT station. It was reported that the last part of the walkway could not be completed because that area was a designated emergency fire escape route and the two agencies involved in the project could not agree on ways to meet the regulatory requirements.
When Bedok Town Centre was rejuvenated in 2015, there were no shelters for the wheelchair-friendly ramps.
The HDB, in its reply to my query, said that "in view of the limited budget, shelters could not be provided to cover the new ramps. Hence, the upgrading works were focused on areas that best benefit the residents and users after the revamp".
One of the purposes of the HDB's Remaking Our Heartland programme is to meet the changing needs of the community. With an ageing population especially in older housing estates like Bedok, the HDB should have worked with stakeholders and agencies to include improvement works that benefit the elderly and wheelchair users.
The Municipal Services Office was set up to, among other things, "enhance the delivery of municipal services and infrastructure".
To this end, it will bring operations officers from various government agencies together to discuss multi-agency cases to improve the delivery of municipal services.
However, the aforementioned cases seem to illustrate that there is still a lack of cooperation between government agencies, and it comes at the expense of residents.
Betty Ho Peck Woon
