All aboard! From KTM tracks to Orchard Route

Much has been written about what to do with the KTM land now that they have reverted to Singapore ownership.Opinions have ranged from nature lovers prefering to leave it alone as a nature area to property investors whowant it developed it for 'growth, progress and prosperity for our nation'. My opinion falls nearer to the side of the nature lovers. Let's consider the following pertinent points:

1. Malaysia had played hardball for over 20 years on this issue. They could have continued to play hardball for another 20. And if they did, what could we have done? Nothing.
2. So any development plans that we might have for the now unencumbered KTM land is purely discretionary. Our economic well-being isn't tied to it. If it is, then we are indeed in deep trouble and our troubles won't be solved by developing the KTM land, only delayed at best. Consider if point 1 above had come to pass.

Should we then just leave it as a mosquito infested wasteland as those in the development camp would view it? To be honest, most of the KTM railway tracks are boring, monotonous and lacking in features of any visual interest. But this is to be expected. KTM was running a railway business, not a park. For me personally,
the monotony was broken in parts only by the sighting of a few scattered fruit trees, principally durian, rambutan and the odd occasional 'farm'.

And this observation is what leads to my suggestion. Why not enhance the KTM tracks by planting fruit and food trees all along the way so that it becomes an 'Orchard Route'? This is an obvious play on Orchard Road which is a major tourism destination. Someone in the past had a brainwave and came up with the Night Safari attraction. I'm sure with a little more thought and imagination, this suggestion of an Orchard Route could have a similar impact.

Indulge me and just imagine for a moment: A long avenue where tropical fruits and food plants from all over the world are planted. Avocado, cashew, jambu, petai to name a very few...how many of you have seen such fruits growing on trees? Or the kind of bamboo whose leaves are used to wrap dumplings? Japan has its avenues of cherry trees famous for their spring flowering. We could have a long green corridor that is flowering and fruiting all YEAR round as the variety of fruits come into season. An ongoing spectacle not just for tourism but also I feel, an educational resource for guided field trips for school children as well.

The cost of enhancing such a green corridor could mostly be subsidised by the public and corporate entities. For corporations, it could be an additional avenue for them to offset their carbon footprint. For the public which is increasingly concerned about environmental issues as evidenced by their keen response to this KTM land issue, they could help by sponsoring the planting of trees like the tree planting program currently undertaken by NParks. See here: http://www.gardencityfund.org/pat/. By allowing the public to decide what type of trees they want to sponsor as well as marketing it as a green way to mark special occasions eg: the birth of their child, the response could be good enough that the project could well end up being self funding.

In enhancing the green corridor, we should not lose sight that it is not just for people alone. It is a vital highway for our much diminished wildlife to disperse and maintain genetic diversity. It is also important to maintain its 'untidy' cover of undergrowth which provides both food and habitat for wildlife. Its very untidyness is one of its charms. Those who crave neatly manicured lawns and sanitised environments can keep to the usual HDB heartland parks, playgrounds and the Botanic Gardens.

For the bean counters out there, can we put a monetary value on leaving the KTM land as a connected green corridor? Yes, very easily actually. Consider the recently announced plan to build the ecolink to re-link the separated halves of the Bukit Timah Nature reserve. What would be the cost to create an equivalent length of connected land spanning say from the west to the east of Singapore? The roads that have to be closed or bridged over. The buildings that have to be demolished to make way. And there you would have it. I don't think it would be a small sum.

The government has announced that they will be taking two years to decide the fate of the KTM land. I'm being cynical here but I believe most of that time will be spent on deciding how to divide up the land into development plots and the PR spin to manage the public fallout. In the end, likely just a few disconnected patches will be left. as a compromise which serves little purpose as each patch is likely too small to be viable to sustain wildlife of any significance or preserve its intrinsic value of connectedness that allows wildlife to disperse without ending up as roadkill. I hope I'm wrong.

But before any decision becomes cast in stone, please consider this: Breaking up the connectivity of the KTM track land is easy to do and once done, effectively becomes irrevocable. Keeping it connected and enhanced as suggested above as a green fruitful corridor which benefits both people and wildlife is a decision that can be revised if need be (hopefully not), at any time in the future.