NParks to manage environment impact assessment consultants in the future

Save time and cost, and improve the quality of EIA in Singapore.

Zhangxin Zheng | August 27, 2022, 08:48 PM

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Moving forward, the National Parks Board (NParks) will manage the consultants conducting environmental impact assessments (EIAs), on behalf of the developing agencies.

This was announced by Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on Aug. 27, 2022.

NParks to manage EIA consultants on behalf of other agencies

This move will allow NParks to work more closely with EIA consultants to standardise survey methodologies and develop industry best practice guidelines to raise the quality and rigour of EIA work in Singapore.

NParks will consolidate information obtained from various EIAs in a centralised biodiversity database to facilitate long-term monitoring and research, such as in modelling island-wide connectivity and ecological profiling, the NParks press release stated.

Instead of individual agencies calling for standalone EIA tenders for their projects, NParks will engage EIA consultants via a centralised demand aggregate tender.

Following which, NParks will manage the consultants directly.

Besides improving the quality of EIA conducted in Singapore, it can potentially save time and cost by reducing duplicative work in the tender calling/bidding process.

"For a start, we will pilot this for new HDB and JTC development projects requiring EIAs from early 2023, before deciding whether to scale this to all government projects," Lee said.

This move shows that the government remains "committed to safeguarding our natural heritage and transforming Singapore into a City in Nature", Lee added.

What is an environmental impact assessment (EIA)?

Under the current EIA framework in Singapore, proposed development projects that are close to sensitive nature areas, marine or coastal areas or have potential transboundary impact will have to undergo an in-depth consultation process.

Once an EIA consultancy firm is engaged, prior to the development, the firm will conduct a baseline study, assess the environmental impact of the project and suggest measures to mitigate, or monitor and manage the potential negative environmental impact as a result of the development.

An EIA report will be produced at the end of the assessment, available to the public with varying degrees of accessibility.

Top image by Joshua Tsu via Unsplash