"Mystery" of the chemical smell in Punggol and Sengkang is no mystery at all

I read with much bore the article in the Straits Times on Friday, 3rd December 2010, titled "Chemical Smell Did Not Originate In Singapore". I can't believe NEA is still hiding this matter and hundreds of Singaporeans living in Punggol and Sengkang are stupid enough not to know where the smell came from. NEA is obviously trying to hide something from the people as the truth will mean more people vacating punggol and sengkang due to the poison air. The following is a 2007 article I have found in the Straits Times:

Ensuring clean air should be part of Punggol plans

Weekend • October 6, 2007

Letter from James Chi Han-Hsuan
Letter from Winnie See

There has been much hype about the Government's recently-announced plans to make Punggol 21 a more vibrant estate.

However, I feel there is a more important matter that should be addressed — pollution from Pasir Gudang in Malaysia.

I used to live in Punggol and have experienced air pollution from Malaysia. A stretch of petrochemical plants lies just across the waterway from Punggol beach. These plants operate around the clock.

Toxic fumes from these plants, often seen in the form of enormous black clouds, constantly drift to our shores. The smell can become almost unbearable at night.

My wife and I used to have to cover our noses all the way from the basement carpark to our apartment due to the pungent smell of chemicals. Once inside our apartment, we had to shut our doors and windows as the fumes would drift into our home.

My wife and I often suffered from severe headaches and seldom enjoyed any fresh air despite living so close to the beach.

The National Environment Agency claimed that the pollution was within an acceptable level. However, I believe the fumes pose a health risk, as seen by the headaches my wife and I suffered. I hope the authorities can investigate this matter.

In addition to developing Punggol, the Government should also address the pollution issue. Now that I have moved to Bukit Batok, I am glad I do not have to tolerate the polluted air in Punggol anymore.

but this time places like AMK aso got smell...hmm

SINGAPORE : MediaCorp received more than 5 calls on its hotline of a bad smell hanging over several parts of the island on Monday.

Calls were received from residents in Hougang, Sengkang, Yio Chu Kang, Ang Mo Kio and and Paya Lebar.


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...096221/1/.html

never underestimate what the petrochemical plant in pasir gudang can do. Take a drive to punggol jetty at night and you won't be able to take the smell outside your car for more than 5 minutes. the flares in pasir gudang burn round the clock and there is nothing our government can do coz it is not our territory. with our government's multi multi-million dollar plan to develop punggol and many HDB flats and condo projects coming up in that area, would NEA simply admit that the petrochemical plants in malaysia are poisoning Singaporeans with toxic fumes and send their housing projects in the area to the dumps? The fumes are scattered around the island depending on the wind, but the Punggol and Sengkang residents get it worst.

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Originally Posted by devilplate

but this time places like AMK aso got smell...hmm

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you may ask how i know, i was the pioneering batch of punggol residents when i started out in my career, but have since moved out of the place years ago.

Excellent revelation. No wonder NEA kept quiet. I would have thought that at the forefront, they would know immediately where the smell originated or thought to have originated from. Never liked Sengkang or Punggol type of areas all these while. Total maze and too far removed from anything practical :eek: :eek: :eek:

Why don't you write to the media or STOMP and let NEA get the bad press? :hell-hath-no-fury: :spliff: :spliff2:

http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/


Southern region seems to have the best quality of air. Central has the highest level of carbon monoxide due to high volume of vehicles. Would CBD fall under South or Central? As for PG and SK, go figure.

The prevailing wind direction could have brought it to the NE region.

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Originally Posted by devilplate

but this time places like AMK aso got smell...hmm

SINGAPORE : MediaCorp received more than 5 calls on its hotline of a bad smell hanging over several parts of the island on Monday.

Calls were received from residents in Hougang, Sengkang, Yio Chu Kang, Ang Mo Kio and and Paya Lebar.


http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...096221/1/.html

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Originally Posted by DC33_2008

The prevailing wind direction could have brought it to the NE region.

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Yes, now is blowing north east winds. :)

People still pay FEO > 1000psf to stay in Seletar :doh:

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Originally Posted by jitkiat

People still pay FEO > 1000psf to stay in Seletar :doh:

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Plus choice sites in punggol etc. We have these in the west and sort of controlled the releases. But across the straits, free for all.

I have been to Jurong Island before 911 and the opposite site of Punggol should be Jalan Pekelining Road.

Jalan Pekelining Road if you are not aware are full of steel mills and petro chemical plant, I think should be much worst than Jurong Island.

Oops, Punggol residents may be too near them.

We r sandwiched between chemicals from the north-east and haze from the south. :scared-2:

Their labeling for PSI is actually a bit misleading. For PSI purposes, Orchard Road, to Marina Bay (which is CBD) all considered under South. That is to say, Most of the CCR areas are under "South" for PSI reading purpose, except the Upper Bukit Timah areas, Mt Sinai areas.

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Originally Posted by KC76

http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/


Southern region seems to have the best quality of air. Central has the highest level of carbon monoxide due to high volume of vehicles. Would CBD fall under South or Central? As for PG and SK, go figure.

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Hi Hi...I am also one of the pioneer batch that move in to Punggol and are still staying there. Do not smell anything unsual since the first day!! Has been to Punggol jetty several time as well...do not smell anything unusual as well??? What you see is people fising over at the jetty!

I still love Punggol...although going to shift out soon due to kids schooling issue..will sure miss the place...

Just to add on...I've stayed for almost 9-10 years in Punggol...

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Originally Posted by clover

Hi Hi...I am also one of the pioneer batch that move in to Punggol and are still staying there. Do not smell anything unsual since the first day!! Has been to Punggol jetty several time as well...do not smell anything unusual as well??? What you see is people fising over at the jetty!

I still love Punggol...although going to shift out soon due to kids schooling issue..will sure miss the place...

Just to add on...I've stayed for almost 9-10 years in Punggol...

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or is the smell seasonal/occasional??

i got frens staying in punggol as well....they nvr smell anything too

Eh..a couple who lived in punggol told me abt the smell n dust. They sold their flat once the 5yrs was up n now looking for flats in amk.

serious advice to you, please get visit ENT for checkup. If you need me to recommend, let me know.

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Originally Posted by clover

Hi Hi...I am also one of the pioneer batch that move in to Punggol and are still staying there. Do not smell anything unsual since the first day!! Has been to Punggol jetty several time as well...do not smell anything unusual as well??? What you see is people fising over at the jetty!

I still love Punggol...although going to shift out soon due to kids schooling issue..will sure miss the place...

Just to add on...I've stayed for almost 9-10 years in Punggol...

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i moved out after two years, simply cannot tahan the dense petrochemical smell. Each time I get out of my car, the smell overwhelms you and when i get into the house, had to close all doors and windows and aircon the whole house immediately, the situation was that bad. I really can't believe some people can say they have lived in punggol for almost a decade aqnd can't smell anything. These people must really go for a nose checkup.

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Originally Posted by focus

Eh..a couple who lived in punggol told me abt the smell n dust. They sold their flat once the 5yrs was up n now looking for flats in amk.

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Originally Posted by Regulators

i moved out after two years, simply cannot tahan the dense petrochemical smell. Each time I get out of my car, the smell overwhelms you and when i get into the house, had to close all doors and windows and aircon the whole house immediately, the situation was that bad. I really can't believe some people can say they have lived in punggol for almost a decade aqnd can't smell anything. These people must really go for a nose checkup.

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Just to share my story of staying in Punggol.

I've used to stay in Punggol for 5 years in beside greendale secondary school at high storey facing Malaysia. The current buildings occupied by Central Christian Church, Punggol Breeze, Blk 632C-636B, Punggol Spectra in front of my HDB were not there when I first moved in. I was able to have a clear view the sea and Malaysia and on and off, you can see big ships passing by and occasionally at night, I was able to see fireworks in Malaysia during festive seasons. However, in front of my HDB, during the daytime, you could see a factory with a tall chimny releasing white fumes all time round (24 hours). At night, very often you would see two big red chimny to the extreme left burning with big fire and the smell that was described is usually very distinct at night (especially in our underground carpark), especially when there is a NW wind. We have to resort to closing the window most of the time when sleeping. Furthermore, my house is always covered with black dust on the floor, if we do not mop our floor every week. The dust most likely has accumlate due to dirty particles from these burning (I have to resort to closing the windows whenever the fire burns on the other side).

After living there for 5 years and having got my 2 kids, I decided that it was too much a health hazard for my family and had since moved out of punggol. I guess for those not facing north directly and not at high storey may not have this issue.

My father-in-law have also shared with me that he know of ppl who have moved their factory to the other side of the country when they know that in singapore, it would not be possible to setup these factory due to the environmental hazard they poise in our country.

Try to go to Punggol Jetty at night, you should be able to see the big fire from the 2 Chimney, if you are lucky.

bro, thanks for coming out to tell your story. i have been trying to tell the fellow forumers here for a while the air pollution situation in punggol and some are still clueless about it. The chimneys and flares that you see burning at night are from the pasir gudang petrochemical plant and they are indeed toxic. I got NEA guy down to monitor the air and they did say diplomatically that there were traces of harmful chemicals in the air, but they dared not say the concentration level was high even though we as residents knew that. All those MPs do not live in the area so they couldnt care less what the Punggol residents were suffering.

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Originally Posted by francislee

Just to share my story of staying in Punggol.

I've used to stay in Punggol for 5 years in beside greendale secondary school at high storey facing Malaysia. The current buildings occupied by Central Christian Church, Punggol Breeze, Blk 632C-636B, Punggol Spectra in front of my HDB were not there when I first moved in. I was able to have a clear view the sea and Malaysia and on and off, you can see big ships passing by and occasionally at night, I was able to see fireworks in Malaysia during festive seasons. However, in front of my HDB, during the daytime, you could see a factory with a tall chimny releasing white fumes all time round (24 hours). At night, very often you would see two big red chimny to the extreme left burning with big fire and the smell that was described is usually very distinct at night (especially in our underground carpark), especially when there is a NW wind. We have to resort to closing the window most of the time when sleeping. Furthermore, my house is always covered with black dust on the floor, if we do not mop our floor every week. The dust most likely has accumlate due to dirty particles from these burning (I have to resort to closing the windows whenever the fire burns on the other side).

After living there for 5 years and having got my 2 kids, I decided that it was too much a health hazard for my family and had since moved out of punggol. I guess for those not facing north directly and not at high storey may not have this issue.

My father-in-law have also shared with me that he know of ppl who have moved their factory to the other side of the country when they know that in singapore, it would not be possible to setup these factory due to the environmental hazard they poise in our country.

Try to go to Punggol Jetty at night, you should be able to see the big fire from the 2 Chimney, if you are lucky.

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Originally Posted by Regulators

bro, thanks for coming out to tell your story. i have been trying to tell the fellow forumers here for a while the air pollution situation in punggol and some are still clueless about it. The chimneys and flares that you see burning at night are from the pasir gudang petrochemical plant and they are indeed toxic. I got NEA guy down to monitor the air and they did say diplomatically that there were traces of harmful chemicals in the air, but they dared not say the concentration level was high even though we as residents knew that. All those MPs do not live in the area so they couldnt care less what the Punggol residents were suffering.

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Maybe a picture is worth a thousand words:

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/st...r_punggol.html

With noise pollution from fighter jets and air pollution from pasir gudang, why is there so much demand for punggol housing now? The bto flats released are many times over subscribed and the Prive EC are selling like hot cakes. COV at Punggol are said to be comparable to matured estates achieving 30-40k COV before cooling measures by government is introduced. New plot of land at matilda house bidded by Sim lian is comparable is at 400+ psf. Surely, people are no longer receptive of punggol like in early 2000. Is this due to the promise of waterfront living and the building of a shopping mall at Punggol town centre which is already in the pipeworks? Punggol has became a poster boy of HDB where ppl getting a BTO flat there can enjoy a very high price appreciation because of the punggol 21+ plan.

Govt has promised alot for the area, as long as economy and property continue to grow, this area will be developed into the showcase of the north east.

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Originally Posted by 990113d03

With noise pollution from fighter jets and air pollution from pasir gudang, why is there so much demand for punggol housing now? The bto flats released are many times over subscribed and the Prive EC are selling like hot cakes. COV at Punggol are said to be comparable to matured estates achieving 30-40k COV before cooling measures by government is introduced. New plot of land at matilda house bidded by Sim lian is comparable is at 400+ psf. Surely, people are no longer receptive of punggol like in early 2000. Is this due to the promise of waterfront living and the building of a shopping mall at Punggol town centre which is already in the pipeworks? Punggol has became a poster boy of HDB where ppl getting a BTO flat there can enjoy a very high price appreciation because of the punggol 21+ plan.

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there are still many unsold unit in punggol. If you dont believe ask anyone wanting to buy a new flat and they will tell you hdb will recommend punggol as the first estate. that area buay gan means buay gan, waterfront or not, you just have to live there to know what it is really like. On the surface or to a first time visitor visiting punggol, the area looks really nice and appealing, but that place was a dead town when i used to live there. There is not a single cinema, fast food restaurant and decent eatery in the entire punggol. I couldn't even find a single branded retailer or fast food outlet in punggol plaza (the only mall there) and the only brand I heard of Hang Ten had also collapsed after opening shop there. I always use MacDonald's as the indicator to see if the town is indeed thriving. If MacDonald's can't even be bothered to have an outlet in Punggol, it speaks a lot about the place, doesn't it?

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Originally Posted by 990113d03

With noise pollution from fighter jets and air pollution from pasir gudang, why is there so much demand for punggol housing now? The bto flats released are many times over subscribed and the Prive EC are selling like hot cakes. COV at Punggol are said to be comparable to matured estates achieving 30-40k COV before cooling measures by government is introduced. New plot of land at matilda house bidded by Sim lian is comparable is at 400+ psf. Surely, people are no longer receptive of punggol like in early 2000. Is this due to the promise of waterfront living and the building of a shopping mall at Punggol town centre which is already in the pipeworks? Punggol has became a poster boy of HDB where ppl getting a BTO flat there can enjoy a very high price appreciation because of the punggol 21+ plan.

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I think the hospitals should set up branches with ENT specialists in punggol, sure to make money.

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Originally Posted by 2824

Govt has promised alot for the area, as long as economy and property continue to grow, this area will be developed into the showcase of the north east.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_flare

I got any complaint link from a SengKang resident choking on the pasir gudang pollution:

http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/st...commentsPage=2

:doh: :doh: :doh:

To add to the smell problem:

I expect the accessibility problems to the NE areas e.g. (Punggol and Seng Keng) to exacerbate despite widening of CTE and construction of new MRT, simply because there will be too many new HDBs, ECs and condos in the next 1-2 years.

The transport operators know there will definitely be much more traffic into these NE areas soon and that is why they implemented the distance-based mode of charging, even though they 'lost' 2.5% fare revenues in Jul 2010 http://www.ptc.gov.sg/FactsAndFigures/fr_overview.htm

Distance-based mode of transport is the most fair way of accounting for transport costs. In the past, somebody who live near to their work place but because there is no direct MRT or Bus get penalized with paying much more just doesn't make sense vs somebody who lives in Sengkang but with a direct bus to work (e.g. in Shenton Way). Furthermore, people who live far away usually already saved a lot in housing costs, so the minimal increase in transport costs is fair. Thus, people will have to balance between housing costs vs transport costs (+ additional time).

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Originally Posted by hyenergix

To add to the smell problem:

I expect the accessibility problems to the NE areas e.g. (Punggol and Seng Keng) to exacerbate despite widening of CTE and construction of new MRT, simply because there will be too many new HDBs, ECs and condos in the next 1-2 years.

The transport operators know there will definitely be much more traffic into these NE areas soon and that is why they implemented the distance-based mode of charging, even though they 'lost' 2.5% fare revenues in Jul 2010 http://www.ptc.gov.sg/FactsAndFigures/fr_overview.htm

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Originally Posted by teddybear

Distance-based mode of transport is the most fair way of accounting for transport costs. In the past, somebody who live near to their work place but because there is no direct MRT or Bus get penalized with paying much more just doesn't make sense vs somebody who lives in Sengkang but with a direct bus to work (e.g. in Shenton Way). Furthermore, people who live far away usually already saved a lot in housing costs, so the minimal increase in transport costs is fair. Thus, people will have to balance between housing costs vs transport costs (+ additional time).

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The PTC is indeed very thoughtful for the public and will be glad to have more people understand that this is a fairer system that will also allow the public tpt operators to earn more. A win-win situation.