Tengah school construction expected to negatively impact biodiversity

Report outlines ecological consequences and proposes measures to reduce impact

- Ang Qing

The vegetated plot of land (background) where United World College of South-east Asia's Tengah campus will be built. The development will take up 9.48ha of land - the size of roughly 13 football fields - consisting primarily of young forest, scrubland and various water bodies, according to a report.

(ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG)

The creation of a new campus for international school United World College of South East Asia (UWC-SEA) in Tengah is expected to negatively impact biodiversity, disturbing the habitat of a critically endangered songbird and the globally endangered long-tailed macaque.

This was disclosed on the school’s website on April 9 in an environmental impact assessment, which also uncovered a species of grass on the site previously thought to be nationally extinct.

With site preparation works slated to begin in August, the 211-page report outlined the ecological consequences of the new campus and proposed measures to reduce the impact to acceptable levels.