ASEAN chief justices emergedfrom an inaugural meeting host-ed by the Supreme Court last Fri-day with ideas of how to work to-gether more closely.

The Supreme Court said in astatement yesterday that themeeting was “very fruitful”, andthe chief justices discussed waysto share best practices in the useof court technology and casemanagement techniques.

The possibility of setting upan Internet portal to improve the

flow of information on Asean ju-diciaries was also raised.

Training opportunities forAsean judges and judicial officersmay also be enhanced in future.

Chief justices from all 10Asean countries were represent-ed: Brunei, Cambodia, Indone-sia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,the Philippines, Thailand, Viet-nam and Singapore.

Singapore was represented byChief Justice Sundaresh Menon,who assumed his post last No-

vember, succeeding former chiefjustice Chan Sek Keong.

The meeting, held on the side-lines of the 35th Asean Law Asso-ciation (ALA) Governing Councilmeeting, is intended to provide aregular forum for Asean CJs to ex-change views on common issuesfacing Asean judiciaries.

The 10 chief justices agreed tomeet periodically on the side-lines of future meetings of theALA.DAVID EE

ISOLATED and low-incomeresidents in the South West willget a helping hand from the thirdAdopt-a-Precinct programme,which was launched yesterday.

Forty households in TamanJurong will receive several week-end visits a month from befriend-ers at ITE College West.

The volunteers will also helpplan group outings, festivecelebrations and health-screen-ing sessions, as well as help in-stall safety features such as bath-room grab-bars in homes.

The aim of the programme bythe South West Community De-velopment Council (CDC) is toprotect residents, especially theelderly, from social isolation.

Deputy Prime Minister Thar-man Shanmugaratnam, an MPfor Jurong GRC, spoke at thelaunch in Taman Jurong, sayingthe scheme was “all about com-munity, volunteers and unity”.

It follows similar programmesstarted in Hong Kah North andChoa Chu Kang since last July.

Over the next three years, the

Adopt-a-Precinct scheme will berolled out to all 18 divisions inthe South West CDC.

Resident Lin Tse Hong, 77,said he tries to visit the nearbyNTUC Eldercare Centre threetimes a week to chat to others.

He noted that many other sen-ior citizens in the estate are iso-lated by comparison.

“Their social circle is limit-ed,” he said. “It’s tough for themto take the initiative to approachpeople.”DAVID EE

Asean CJs discuss ways to work together

Entrance BJunction 10

Entrance A

Bukit Panjang station UPPER BUKIT TIMAH ROAD

WOODLANDS ROAD

Bukit PanjangLRT station

Blk 185

Blk 184

PETI

R RO

AD

Bus-stop

Existing covered link bridgeBUKIT PANJANGROAD

Proposedentrance

CanalCanal

Blk 605

ST GRAPHICS ITE College West lecturer Vivian Lim, 29, supervising as students Danny Kuah, 18, and Muhammad Ridwanbin AbdulRais, 19, (right) help install bathroom railings in a flat. The South West CDC plans to roll out the Adopt-a-Precinctscheme to all of its 18 divisions over the next three years. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

By ROYSTON SIM

BUKIT Panjang residents in theSenja estate will get an MRT en-trance at their doorstep when theDowntown Line Stage 2 opens forservice.

The Land Transport Authority(LTA) has called for a contractorto design and build an additionalentrance for the future Bukit Pan-jang MRT station, on top of thetwo already planned.

The third entrance will belocated near the bus stop in frontof Block 605 on Bukit PanjangRoad and allow commuters toenter the future station via anunderpass.

An LTA spokesman said the en-trance will also provide thosealighting at the bus stop with aconvenient transfer to the MRT.

The go-ahead for a newentrance came after about twoyears of persistent lobbying byHolland-Bukit Timah GRC MPsLiang Eng Hwa and Vivian Bala-krishnan, as well as residents.

The spokesman said the LTAhas received regular feedbackabout a third entrance and careful-ly studied the possibility of con-structing one.

She added: “With many new de-velopments coming up in BukitPanjang and to enhance theplanned pedestrian network andconnectivity of transport nodes tonearby amenities and facilities,another entrance will be added tohelp distribute commuter flowand provide commuters withgreater convenience.”

There are three upcomingbuild-to-order developments inSenja – Senja Green, Senja Gate-way and Senja Parc View.

MP Liang Eng Hwa said he wasglad the LTA “was open-mindedenough to re-study the case andthereafter work hard to overcomethe various design and funding is-sues.”

He added: “If you evaluate thisentrance on a standalone basis, itdoesn’t make financial sense. Butif you look at the whole Down-town Line, it does. It’s such a bigproject, it doesn’t make sense tonot provide smooth connections.”

Without the entrance, resi-dents would have to cross thebusy junction of Bukit PanjangRoad and Woodlands Road to getto the future station and rainwould make the journey very in-convenient, he said.

Compared to Hong Kong’s

MTR, which has 557 entrancesover 84 stations, Singapore’sMRT has fewer connections tosurrounding developments, with280 entrances for 99 stationshere.

In recent years, the Govern-ment has put more focus on im-proving the “last mile” connec-tion for commuters who walk tothe MRT.

In January this year, TransportMinister Lui Tuck Yew announceda $330 million project to build acomprehensive network of cov-ered linkways to give everyonewalking within 400m of an MRTstation shelter from the elements.

Programmer Sim Tze Jan, 34,has lived in Bukit Panjang formore than 20 years and wasamong the residents who pushedhard for an entrance near Senja.

He said: “I see the DowntownLine as something that can solveBukit Panjang’s transport prob-lems. That’s why I wanted tomake it right.

“An MRT exit there would en-courage more people to walk tothe MRT station instead of takingthe already stressed LRT system.”

Work on the new station en-trance is expected to start at theend of this year and be completedby December 2016.

It will be ready after the open-ing of the Downtown Line Stage2, which was due in 2015 but hasbeen delayed after one project con-tractor went bust.

The LTA is expected to an-nounce a replacement contractorand new completion date for theline soon.

roysim@sph.com.sg

Adopt-a-Precinct schemerolled out in Taman Jurong

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Lobbying by MPs,residents pays offwith better accessfor Senja estate

Go-ahead for thirdentrance at BukitPanjang station

EASING COMMUTER WOES

I see the DowntownLine as something thatcan solve BukitPanjang’s transportproblems. That’s why Iwanted to make itright... An MRT exitthere would encouragemore people to walk tothe MRT stationinstead of taking thealready stressed LRTsystem.– Programmer Sim Tze Jan, 34,who has lived in Bukit Panjang formore than 20 years

B2 HHOOMMEE M O N D A Y , A U G U S T 2 6 , 2 0 1 3