KHAW BOON WAN: THERE WILL NOT BE A COMMERCIAL COLUMBARIUM BUILT IN FERNVALE
29 Jan 2015
Khaw Boon Wan, the Minister for National Development, explained in parliament that there will be no commercial columbarium at the site of a proposed Chinese temple in Sengkang West.
He also noted that this was the first time that a site intended for a place of worship was awarded to a company not affiliated with a religious organisation.
Khaw said "We now understand that the winning tenderer for this site, Eternal Pure Land Pte Ltd, is actually a private company without any religious affiliation," he said.
"From what we know, the plan of the company is to run a commercial columbarium on the site. This is not in line with our plan for the place of worship site."
It is curious that the government was ‘unaware’ of this fact earlier and in fact had been defending the plans saying that residents were already told about the plans in the fine print of the brochure.
It seems that after enough public pressure, they have changed their tune and are backtracking as they realise that this could be an issue that will lose them votes in the next elections.
Khaw claimed that they had actually been unaware that the company awarded the land, Eternal Pure Land, was not a religious organisation.
He said that they had thought the company was a vehicle for a religious organisation.
This casts even more doubts on the government’s process of awarding land. It means that they do not even conduct background checks on companies that they award land to.
Mr Khaw said that the MND will ensure the land is only used for the original plan of a Chinese Temple and it is now in discussion with Eternal Pure Land to ensure that this is achieved.
This is not the first time the government has failed to do background checks on the companies they engage. LTA recently awarded a huge road project to a company that didn’t even lodge financial statements to ACRA and in the end, the company went bust and stopped works without finishing the project leaving residents with half closed roads.
29 Jan 2015
Khaw Boon Wan, the Minister for National Development, explained in parliament that there will be no commercial columbarium at the site of a proposed Chinese temple in Sengkang West.
He also noted that this was the first time that a site intended for a place of worship was awarded to a company not affiliated with a religious organisation.
Khaw said "We now understand that the winning tenderer for this site, Eternal Pure Land Pte Ltd, is actually a private company without any religious affiliation," he said.
"From what we know, the plan of the company is to run a commercial columbarium on the site. This is not in line with our plan for the place of worship site."
It is curious that the government was ‘unaware’ of this fact earlier and in fact had been defending the plans saying that residents were already told about the plans in the fine print of the brochure.
It seems that after enough public pressure, they have changed their tune and are backtracking as they realise that this could be an issue that will lose them votes in the next elections.
Khaw claimed that they had actually been unaware that the company awarded the land, Eternal Pure Land, was not a religious organisation.
He said that they had thought the company was a vehicle for a religious organisation.
This casts even more doubts on the government’s process of awarding land. It means that they do not even conduct background checks on companies that they award land to.
Mr Khaw said that the MND will ensure the land is only used for the original plan of a Chinese Temple and it is now in discussion with Eternal Pure Land to ensure that this is achieved.
This is not the first time the government has failed to do background checks on the companies they engage. LTA recently awarded a huge road project to a company that didn’t even lodge financial statements to ACRA and in the end, the company went bust and stopped works without finishing the project leaving residents with half closed roads.
