With the spate of trees falling down, it's obvious that NParks has been skiving for years. Instead, look at the kind of appallingly insulting excuses these Civil Serpents gave. Till some elite kena - or when the 66% Goondus wake up their fucking idea in the year-end GE, nothing will change. In fact, it is only going to get worse --->>>
http://www.facebook.com/notes/theonlinecitizen/nparks-u-da-best/400069708963
Straits Times
Jun 11, 2010
Rotten root caused topple
Root was underground and went undetected during checks, says NParks
A ROTTEN root and a tree crown that had grown unevenly caused a 30-year-old raintree to topple in front of the Istana at around 4pm on Wednesday, bringing a traffic light down with it.
The National Parks Board (NParks), which looks after trees along most roads and in parks and nature reserves, told The Straits Times that as the rotten root, one of three that anchor the tree,
was underground, it went undetected by its officers who conduct regular checks on the health of trees in Singapore.
The fallen tree, which was 18m tall and had a girth of 2.5m, was also competing for sunlight with a larger tree right next to it, which meant its crown could not develop evenly and into its usual round shape. As a result, its weight was not evenly distributed, NParks explained.
A combination of these factors, as well as the heavy rain which loosened the soil on Wednesday afternoon, triggered the fall of the tree, said Mr Simon Longman, director of streetscape at NParks.
NParks has deployed officers to conduct checks on other trees in the vicinity, he added, although he could not say when the tree was last checked.
NParks inspects every tree under its charge at least once every three years.
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ST Forum Page letter by Dennis Distant.
Jun 14, 2010
Puzzled by rotten-root remark
I AM puzzled by the National Parks Board's remark that the rotten root of a tree outside the Istana went undetected because it was underground ("Rotten root caused tree to topple at Istana", last Friday).
Surely, most roots are located underground.
It is very fortunate that only one person was injured as that area is usually crowded with pedestrians.
Denis Distant