CPG Consultants

Nov 7, 2023

Tan See Chee pleaded guilty to two charges under the Parks and Trees Act on Nov 7. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG https://str.sg/iNgm SINGAPORE - A project director of the consultancy linked to the unauthorised clearing of Kranji woodland in 2020 and 2021 was fined $20,000 on Tuesday. Tan See Chee, 65, was part of a quartet of officers from Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) and CPG Consultants working on the development of the Kranji Agri-Food Innovation Park (AFIP), which was planned to be a hub for high-tech farming and research and development activities. The four officers were found to have acted in gross violation of wildlife-related requirements that needed to be met before getting approval from the National Parks Board (NParks) for the trees to be felled. This led to the felling of 362 trees without approval. Tan, who was appointed to be the qualified person and superintending officer for the project, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two charges under the Parks and Trees Act. Three similar charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing. Tan is also an adjunct associate professor in the National University of Singapore’s department of civil and environmental engineering. The other three co-accused are Neo Jek Lin, 44, who was a JTC senior project manager at the time of the unauthorised clearing; Chong Pui Chih, 47, a former deputy director with the statutory board; and Jimmy Liu, 63, the vice president of CPG. Neo and Chong were fined $30,000 each in Nov 2022 for their roles in having Kranji woodland cleared without approval. In January, Liu admitted to three charges under the Parks and Trees Act and one charge under the Wildlife Act and was fined $26,000. Deputy Public Prosecutors Nicholas Khoo and Jordon Li said that in March 2019, the Government announced that a plot of land at Kranji Close and Kranji Road would be set aside for the development of Kranji AFIP. JTC was appointed the project owner and developing agency for Kranji AFIP, and was responsible for its development and the engagement of consultants and contractors to plan, design and execute works there. JTC then engaged CPG, which was responsible for the design and construction works at Kranji AFIP as well as ensuring necessary approvals were obtained from the relevant authorities before works were carried out. More On This Topic