Debated in Parliament on 10 Mar 2022.
Ms Carrie Tan asked the Minister for National Development (a) how is the space allocation for heavy vehicle parking lots calculated and decided for each town; (b) how often is this reviewed to ensure that there are sufficient lots to meet residents' needs; and (c) whether the MOM and the companies in sectors that employ lorry drivers are included in the review process to shift heavy vehicle parking lots away from HDB housing estates.
As of December 2021, there are about 42,100 Heavy Vehicle (HV) lots islandwide, and about 32,400 HVs registered under LTA's Vehicle Parking Certificate (VPC) scheme. Hence, there are sufficient lots for all HVs islandwide.
We recognise that some HV drivers may prefer to park near where they reside. However, locating HV parks (HVPs) in or near residential areas comes at a high opportunity cost, as the land could otherwise cater to housing or other community needs. Residents have also raised noise and safety concerns due to heavy vehicle traffic arising from these HVPs. As the competition for land intensifies, it will be increasingly difficult to have HVPs in or near residential estates, where the tradeoffs are more acute. Today, the majority of HV lots are already located in industrial areas and privately operated.
As the Member has also pointed out, we have been reviewing our plans to progressively reduce the number of public HVPs in or near residential areas, to free up land to meet other development needs. Any injection of public HVPs in or near residential areas will need to be considered carefully.
HV drivers play an important role in our economy. We are, therefore, working closely with agencies like MTI, MOT, ESG and LTA, to ensure that there remain sufficient HV lots islandwide which are accessible to drivers, as we phase out some of our public HVPs in or near residential areas.
As part of this process, we take into consideration feedback from industry stakeholders, like HVP operators and HV-operating businesses, to address business needs and possible constraints. We will continue our efforts to engage stakeholders from HV-operating sectors, like the private bus and logistics sectors.
Ms Carrie Tan.
Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I would just like to clarify this: it looks like a multi-Ministry effort to review the allocation of space in Singapore for HVPs. And I am just wondering whether there is an expectation by the Ministries that employers need to be responsible for the cost of commute of the HV drivers to get to and from their residence to their parked vehicle, wherever that may be located, and whether this expectation of these commuting costs has been communicated to the employers of HV drivers.
Madam, I thank the Member for her question and welcome her back to Parliament as well. Indeed, these are the issues that the various sector leads, the various Ministries and agencies, are discussing with their HV operating businesses. Some of these will be dependent on the specific sectors, for example, in the logistics sectors, buses for ferrying workers and passengers will be very different from sector to sector.
And these are, indeed, the issues that we have been discussing with the different stakeholders. If there are specific issues or questions that the Member has encountered, please write to us. We would be happy to take a look at the specifics.
PAPERCUTS