Plastic sheets blown off Sembawang rooftop vegetable farm not properly secured by contractor
Fortunately, no vegetables were harmed.
Some plastic sheets covering the rooftop vegetable garden at Block 354 Admiralty multi-storey carpark in Sembawang were blown off in a storm on Oct 16.
Sharing a video of the incident, Stomper Eric described the storm as a four-in-one.
"Strong winds, heavy rains, thunder and lightning," said the Stomper.
In response to a Stomp query, a spokesperson for the Sembawang Town Council said: "The rooftop space at Block 354 is currently leased by the Singapore Food Agency to SG Veg Farms as part of Singapore's effort to achieve its "30 by 30" goal of producing 30 per cent of our nutritional needs locally by 2030.
"This initiative, which utilises alternative spaces like HDB multi-storey carpark rooftops for commercial farming, aligns with the HDB's Green Towns Programme to intensify greening in our estates."
The spokesperson added that the town council had requested the farm operator, SG Veg Farms, take immediate action regarding the farm roof's safety and stability.
When contacted by Stomp, SG Veg Farms founder and director Eyleen Goh said: "Thank you for your concern, and I would also like to express our gratitude to the nearby residents who continually help keep an eye on our farms. We truly appreciate the community's support.
"Recently, we experienced unusually strong, multi-directional winds and heavy rainfall, similar to a mini-typhoon.
"Unfortunately, this caused some plastic sheets on one of our greenhouse roofs to tear due to a small opening that wasn't properly secured by the previous contractor, who lacked experience with such structures. As Singapore is not traditionally an agricultural country, there are limited experts in this field.
"However, with our years of experience operating farms on HDB rooftops, we now have better solutions for these structures. We are already addressing the issue to ensure prompt repairs and are also exploring options to upgrade the roof material to something more durable than plastic sheets, provided we can secure the necessary funds for the upgrades.
"Fortunately, our vegetables were not affected by the small opening during the rain."
She added: "It's a great video, by the way! It also highlights the challenges we face in managing cost efficiencies and the lack of support and technical expertise here in sg when setting up the farms."
