SINGAPORE – For as long as he has lived in Clementi Street 12, Sunset Way has been Mr Chan Jun Xiong’s only road home.
This changed on Sept 8, with the opening of Brookvale Drive, which connects Sunset Way and Clementi Road near Maju Drive. Brookvale Drive also provides easy access to Ki Residences, a new 660-unit condominium that Mr Chan will move into once it is ready later in 2024.
Before the opening of Brookvale Drive, Sunset Way was the only thoroughfare between Ki Residences and Clementi Road.
“The new road should even out the traffic on both ends of Sunset Way,” Mr Chan, 36, said, noting that traffic can be quite bad during peak hours.
The data analytics manager said that residents are generally welcoming of another option to enter and exit the Sunset Way neighbourhood.
The 1.2km-long public road was built at a cost of $48 million by the private developer of Ki Residences, Hoi Hup Sunway Clementi, a joint venture between Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments.
The cost includes a covered linkway from Ki Residences to a bus stop in Clementi Road, the relocation of a bus stop, road realignment works and a U-turn in Clementi Road.
The road was five years in the making, Hoi Hup Realty told The Straits Times, from conception in 2019 to construction in 2024. It will be handed over to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in due course.
Mr Koon Wai Leong, general manager of Hoi Hup Realty, said that the developer decided to build Brookvale Drive following a mandatory feasibility study and discussions with LTA.
As Hoi Hup Sunway Clementi wanted to construct 660 units on the site of the former Brookvale Park condominium, which had 160 units, it was required to build a new road to support this influx of residents.
“Before Brookvale Drive existed, the entire Sunset Way estate depended on one lane in, one lane out. That is not a very sustainable arrangement in the long term,” Mr Koon said.
Senior Minister of State for National Development and Foreign Affairs Sim Ann, who is MP for the area, told ST that residents were worried that Sunset Way would be overloaded with traffic as the only road in and out of the estate.
Brookvale Drive’s opening “not only mitigates residents’ concerns that additional cars would overload Sunset Way, but also resolves a longstanding worry that Sunset Way residents would be cut off from Clementi Road should any incident, such as a fallen tree, cause a road closure”, Ms Sim said.
“This is a solution that they have been waiting for.”
Mr Koon also said that the decision to build Brookvale Drive – which required the developer to give up about 10 per cent of the site – was taken to make Ki Residences more accessible.
The condominium “is right in the heart of Sunset Way estate, right at the top of the road, which means that anyone staying there will find accessibility quite a challenge”, he said.
He added that in hindsight, the decision was “quite fortunate”, because two or three years after construction began, LTA announced that the new Maju MRT station on the Cross-Island Line would be built close to Brookvale Drive.
Building Brookvale Drive posed several challenges, Mr Kenneth Loo, chief operating officer of Straits Construction, the main contractor for Ki Residences, said.
These included security challenges, given the road’s proximity to Maju Camp. The contractors had to have clearance to conduct work along the camp’s boundary and demolish an old retaining wall. They also had to consider the hilly and uneven terrain.
“We had to make sure that eventually, the slope cannot be too steep for people to walk, for buses to go.”
Another challenge was cutting through Maju Forest, the developer said.
Mr Koon noted that the Nature Society (Singapore) (NSS) “was quite concerned with the loss of habitat for the flora and fauna in that area”.
After conducting environmental impact studies and discussions, “we were able to convince them to allow us to cut away some of the forest to create this road”, Mr Koon said. He added that steps were taken to preserve what they could.
For example, the developer hired arborists to survey each tree to make sure no birds or nests would be destroyed. In the end, about 3.6ha of forest was cut down to make way for the road, about 14.4 per cent of Maju Forest’s 25ha.
Mr Leong Kwok Peng, who is on NSS’ conservation committee and who provided feedback on the ecological and environmental impact of building Brookvale Drive, urged the authorities to monitor the wildlife of Maju Forest.
“It’s wise to monitor for a while, whether there’s any impact, any roadkill.”
Residents of Sunset Way estate welcomed the opening of Brookvale Drive as it provides them with an alternative route home.
Banking counsel Joseph Tay, 33, said Brookvale Drive will serve as an “escape valve” for the increased pressure from higher traffic volumes that could arise after residents move into Ki Residences.
Similarly, Ms Brindha Bal, 55, who lives in a condominium near Brookvale Drive, said her family can now get to Clementi Road more easily.
But the headhunter had some safety concerns about the absence of a signalised pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Sunset Vale and Sunset Way, especially with the expected increase in traffic to and from Brookvale Drive.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...state-new-condo-in-clementi-get-new-12km-road
