Mandai Park Development (MPD) is the company that is developing the Mandai area into an "integrated nature and wildlife destination".

Currently, the secondary forests in Mandai are being cleared to make way for two new parks - the Bird Park and a Rainforest Park.

The MPD engaged the services of Mr Subaraj Rajathurai, a wildlife expert, to conduct environmental impact discussions. Subaraj runs a wildlife consultancy. 

Now, Subaraj claims that MPD wants him to sign a non-disclosure agreement that prevents him from speaking publicly. 

Subaraj told the Straits Times that this non-disclosure agreement will bar him from speaking about the negative impact of the project on the nature reserve's fauna.

"If I sign the non-disclosure agreement, I will not be able to highlight these issues to the public, and be a voice for the animals."

- Subaraj in a Straits Times interview

In recent times, four different species of native mammals have ended up as roadkill in the Mandai area. These include the Sambar deer, wild boar, Leopard cat, and the critically endangered Sunda pangolin.

In June 2018, a pregnant wild boar was killed while crossing the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) near the Mandai Road exit. The boar's body was split open, and several bodies of piglets were found next to it.

Just a week before the accident that killed the wild boar, another sambar deer was killed on the BKE while attempting to cross the road. Its injuries were so severe that it had to be put down.

According to the Straits Times, Subaraj and the nature community believe that the roadkills happened because MPD did not do enough to mitigate the environmental impact of the Mandai precinct project.

The paper also mentioned that when it contacted nature groups for their comment on roadkills near Mandai in March 2018, the groups declined citing non-disclosure agreements with MPD.

How to do environmental projects right

Subaraj pointed out that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) is also conducting projects at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve but unlike the Mandai Precinct project, there were no roadkills observed at the former.

The LTA recently completed site investigations to study two different alignment options (one underneath the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, and the other skirting around it) for the upcoming Cross Island Line (CRL).

Aside from consulting nature groups, LTA also put in place comprehensive mitigation measures during the site investigations (SI) so as not to cause severe disruptions to the environment. These included, but are not limited to:

1. Avoiding drilling boreholes in ecologically sensitive areas.
2. Doing work only in the day to avoid disrupting nocturnal activities.
3. Using non-intrusive geophysical survey methods to supplement the data obtained from the boreholes

After the completion of the SI, the LTA's cameras captured the presence of fauna such as the Sunda Pangolin and Lesser Mousedeer, which validated their mitigation methods. 

According to National University of Singapore biology lecturer N. Sivasothi, the site investigations by LTA had the "highest amount of mitigation demonstrated by any project - maybe anywhere in the world" 

It should be noted that LTA's works at the Central Catchment Nature Reserve are site investigations before the actual development works, which is probably going to be more intrusive.

However, judging from the site investigations, LTA's suite of mitigation measures will go a long way in minimising the environmental impact from the Cross Island Line.

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MPD disputes "misleading" claims

In reply, the Senior Vice-President of MPD, Philip Yim, told the Straits Times that it is "misleading" to attribute all roadkills in the Mandai vicinity to the Mandai project, saying that "roadkill incidents have happened before".

Yim said that the non-disclosure agreement is meant to guard sensitive commercial information.

He added that MPD has implemented measures to reduce the likelihood of roadkill incidents. These are:

1. Installing wildlife crossing signs and speed bumps along Mandai Road
2. Telling major transport companies to slow down along Mandai Road.
3. Crossing aids for tree-dwelling animals.

He added that MPD plans to build an eco-bridge for animals by the end of 2019.

Hopefully less of our precious native animals end up dead in the lead up to what must be the biggest irony in Singapore: Clearing an actual nature and wildlife destination to create a "nature and wildlife destination".

In the words of Joni Mitchell,

Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got

'Till it's gone

They paved paradise

And they put up a parking lot

Top images by ACRES and HardwareZone.