\n<\/p>\n
The Sunset Way site sits within the existing Maju Forest and has been largely zoned for residential use since the Master Plan 1980.<\/p>\n
It comprises five habitat types, including 4.7ha of native-dominated secondary forest, almost 10ha of abandoned land forest, and three natural streams.<\/p>\n
The study recorded several native and conservation-significant species, including the critically endangered straw-headed bulbul.<\/p>\n
After mitigation measures, the environmental study found the project could have “major negative to no significant” impacts on biodiversity during the pre-construction and construction phases.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Based on findings, HDB will retain about 8ha of the 23ha study area, including a freshwater stream and its surrounding riparian buffer, to provide refuge for wildlife and facilitate fauna movement.<\/p>\n
Mr Leong said large patches of secondary forests like Maju Forest are \u201cvery few and far between\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce it’s cleared, it’s irreversible. You can’t replace it. It takes decades for secondary forest to grow,\u201d he said, adding that secondary forests also contribute to the ecosystem by cooling the air and retaining rainfall.<\/p>\n
HDB has proposed retaining a forest stream and most of the native-dominated secondary forest, which makes up about a quarter of the study area.<\/p>\n
Mr Leong said that with a smaller forested area, animals might be forced out, increasing the likelihood of roadkill.<\/p>\n
Mr Ho Xiang Tian, co-founder of LepakInSG, said the presence of nutmeg found deep within Maju Forest suggests it remains well connected to nature reserves.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping it allows animals to move from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve down to Southern Ridges and have habitats in between to stay at rather than be forced to keep moving,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After the development, the remaining forest will function less as a habitat and more as an ecological connectivity corridor, he said.<\/p>\n
As part of mitigation measures, a directional clearance plan will allow animals to move to adjacent greenery.<\/p>\n
Mr Ho said that LepakInSG, which was among the nature groups consulted, has raised that shepherding wildlife only means they will not be killed during development.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they would need to compete for space and resources with whatever animals are already in the place they are being shepherded to, so something is still going to die or get displaced by this development,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SUNSET WAY The Sunset Way site sits within the existing Maju Forest and has been largely zoned for residential use since the Master Plan 1980….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--uQlI8mrY--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/07\/10\/whatsapp_image_2026-07-10_at_7.57.36_pm.jpeg?itok=Pz5xzBd_","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26272,965,19031,26271,5738,3901,7,40,15187,4299,10728],"class_list":["post-67702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-barracks","tag-call","tag-environmental","tag-gillman","tag-groups","tag-housing","tag-nature","tag-plans","tag-safeguards","tag-stronger","tag-sunset","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}