4 new funeral parlours to be launched over next decade: NEA
Four new funeral parlours will be progressively launched by the National Environment Agency (NEA) over the next 10 years.
This is to meet the expected growth in annual demand for after-death services, with the annual figure for resident deaths expected to rise to about 40,000 by 2040.
“The annual demand for wake spaces is expected to increase in tandem with the increase in resident deaths… Hence, the government needs to plan ahead for such facilities,” said the NEA in a press release on Tuesday (8 January).
According to government statistics, 20,905 deaths were recorded in Singapore in 2017.
The locations for the four sites are Ang Mo Kio St 63 (near SBS Transit bus depot), the industrial area along Bukit Batok St 23, Mandai Road (near the existing Mandai crematorium and columbarium) and Woodlands Industrial Park E8, said the NEA.
‘Sensitively designed’ complexes
Identified through an inter-agency planning process, the sites are located in “various parts of Singapore to provide a better distribution of funeral parlours” for bereaved families and their visitors.
The funeral parlour complexes will be “sensitively designed and operated to minimise impact to neighbouring stakeholders”, said the NEA.
This could include providing visual barriers, confining rituals and processions to within the sites where possible, as well as ensuring adequate parking facilities in the vicinity and at the complexes.
Neighbouring stakeholders will be engaged by the NEA and their feedback will be incorporated into the development plans of the respective sites.
‘Competing needs for space’
The NEA noted that while funeral wakes are mostly held at HDB void decks and multi-purpose pavilions, there is an increasing demand for wakes held in purpose-built funeral parlours.
It said that they will continue to work with land use planners to meet the long-term demand for funeral spaces and ensure that they are ready ahead of demand.
“As a small and densely populated city-state, there will always be competing needs for space to meet Singapore’s various development needs. Some of these developments may require Singaporeans to make some adjustments and accommodation,” said the NEA.
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