Environmental Surveillance and Air Quality Readings at Industrial Estates near Residential Areas

Mr Alex Yam asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (a) how often are air quality readings taken at industrial estates that are close to residential areas such as that of Sungei Kadut; (b) how many factories in Sungei Kadut have been fined for breaching the standards in the last five years; and (c) whether the Ministry has any plans to increase environmental surveillance and enforcement in these industrial estates.

Air quality readings are monitored continuously by the National Environment Agency (NEA) through a network of 22 stations across Singapore. Four of these are located near industrial estates that are close to residential estates, including one near the industrial estates at Sungei Kadut. Factories must ensure that their operations comply with the requirements under the Environmental Protection and Management Act (EPMA) and its Regulations. Industries that are known to have processes with higher air pollutant loads are required to engage an accredited surveyor to conduct source emission testing and submit the test report to NEA each year. NEA also conducts scheduled and random factory inspections. Over the past five years, seven factories in the Sungei Kadut area have been fined for not meeting NEA’s emissions standards or not maintaining their pollution control equipment properly. We welcome all feedback and members of the public who wish to report sightings of smoky stacks can do so via the NEA hotline or myENV app.

To improve air quality and safeguard public health, my Ministry has recently tightened industrial emissions standards for a range of air pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter and carbon monoxide. With effect from 1 July 2015, new industrial plants have to comply with these new standards while existing plants are expected

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to comply within three to eight years for the range of pollutants.