Shunfu Ville, now private, closes walkway

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...lkway-20130420

Shunfu Ville, now private, closes walkway

Residents of nearby estates upset they now have to take a longer route

Published on Apr 20, 2013

By Rachel Chang And Cheng Jingjie


A TWO-YEAR battle over a walkway between two groups of residents came to a head this week when the path was closed.

The newly privatised Shunfu Ville in Thomson, formerly an HUDC estate, closed a walkway that cuts through the estate to the main road - leaving 500 residents in nearby landed properties outraged. The footpath leads to Marymount MRT station, a bus stop, Shunfu market and a PAP Community Foundation kindergarten.

With it closed, residents who live in the Thomson Garden area have to take a longer path of about 500m to 600m, a route that is "punishing" for the large group of elderly people in the neighbourhood.

"When I need to see the doctor, I need to walk one big round to take a taxi. When I walk to the market, it is very hard for me," said Madam Chiam Lan Hen, 76, who has just undergone knee surgery and relies on a walking stick.

But on their part, Shunfu Ville residents said the walkway issue has held up their privatisation bid for two years, and that the land it is on is now their responsibility.

One resident who declined to be named said: "If any of them falls and gets hurt while using the walkway, they can technically sue us." Earlier this year, a paralysed man sued Sembawang Town Council when he suffered spinal injuries after slipping on a wet floor. Both sides came to a confidential settlement.

The Shunfu Ville pro-tem committee, which disbanded after the HDB approved its privatisation bid late last month, made the decision to close the walkway, which was locked on Wednesday.

Before the fateful action, it supposedly suggested to Thomson Garden neighbourhood committee chairman Eugene Lee that residents sign indemnity forms to protect Shunfu Ville before using the walkway. But Mr Lee said yesterday that the request was never an "official one". Of the 10 residents that The Straits Times spoke to yesterday, most did not know of the indemnity form idea.

The Straits Times understands that Shunfu Ville residents want to redevelop the land that the walkway cuts through. Its new management committee will be elected in June or July to spearhead the plans.

Shunfu Ville first got the requisite 75 per cent or more votes from its 358 units supporting privatisation in 2008.

But it received HDB approval only this year, due to a delay that its former pro-tem committee said was caused by negotiations with the area's then MP Hri Kumar Nair to preserve the walkway. Suggestions such as a land swop - to keep the walkway public in exchange for another piece of state land - were bandied about during this period, according to minutes of the pro-tem committee's meetings.

Mr Nair did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The area's new MP, Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo, is due to meet residents today to discuss the issue.

Mr Nair and Mrs Teo are MPs in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

In a video filmed in February during a community event, Mrs Teo told concerned locals the Shunfu Ville residents "are very upset" over the delay in the privatisation. "We cannot delay it any further. At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves what is the realistic way to move forward."

[email protected]

[email protected]

[reporter2]

http://www.straitstimes.com/archive/...-drag-20130421

Shunfu walkway saga set to drag on

Talks fail to kick off as invited residents of privatised estate fail to turn up

Published on Apr 21, 2013

By Daryl Chin


The saga over a 20m walkway separating two estates looks set to drag on for at least several more months, as talks between the two failed to even kick off yesterday.

Elderly Thomson Garden residents used the path as a short cut to a bus stop, Shunfu market, kindergarten and Marymount MRT station. But that all stopped last Thursday, when the newly privatised Shunfu Ville fenced up its area.

This outraged some Thomson Garden residents who had been using the pathway for years and now have to take a 500m detour.

Yesterday some 110 met their new MP, Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo, for a closed-door dialogue on the matter.

Its neighbourhood committee chairman Eugene Lee said invitations were sent to some Shunfu Ville residents as well - but none turned up. Mr Lee said he also sent out three proposals to some Shunfu Ville residents when he found out about the closure.

These were: to produce more access cards should Thomson Garden residents want to use the gated path, have the pathway open for certain hours in the day; or keep it open at all times.

The Shunfu Ville residents, however, have yet to reply, said Mrs Teo. "What is most important is for both sides to come to the table and speak to one another," she said. "We need to know what the concerns are before we can discuss the proposals."

The situation has not progressed because Shunfu Ville has yet to appoint a management committee, said former pro-tem committee member Wong Siew Seng, 55.

The pro-tem committee was made up of volunteers with the express interest of privatising the estate. After approval was given by the Housing Board, it disbanded.

The annual general meeting to select a managing committee would happen only in June or July, Mr Wong estimated.

"Before that's done, how can we volunteers decide matters on behalf of the estate? Especially if it involves opening up a pathway that we are responsible for," he said.

Asked for his opinion on the proposals, Mr Wong said the first two would be prone to abuse, while the last might defeat the idea of privatisation in the first place. He said he had not known about the dialogue session.

About 10 of the Shunfu Ville residents The Sunday Times spoke to were unaware of the talks.

One Thomson Garden resident, who asked not to be named, said:"The discussions were not fruitful. But surely the Government can do more.