THE National Parks Board may be the next to come under the spotlight.

When National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan went down the list of statutory boards in his ministry yesterday, at a press conference on HDB's restructuring, he pointed out that NParks still handles 'certain things that could probably be done by the private sector'.

He did not give details but market watchers thought these included the design, development and management of some parks.

Private landscape architects, horticulturalists and park managers could well take over these functions.

NParks was born in 1996 following a merger of the Parks and Recreation Department (PRD) and the former National Parks Board.

It employs about 900 people and manages about 1,700 ha of parks, park connectors and open spaces, and 2,839 ha of nature reserves.

One thing standing in the way of privatisation is the lack of expertise in the handling of such large-scale projects, as well as plant knowledge.

The Straits Times understands, for example, that apart from those hired by NParks, there is only one other arboriculturalist, or tree specialist, in Singapore.

The ex-president of the Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects, Mr Mason Tan, said: 'There aren't enough well-trained and qualified people out there who can take on these tasks, even if they were divested, and NParks or the Government should perhaps take the lead in developing expertise.'

Perhaps for this reason, some of NParks' 'crown jewels' - like the Botanic Gardens - may remain under the board's care.

When contacted, an NParks spokesman would only say that it was 'in the midst of carrying out an organisational review to streamline our resources'.

Other boards under the National Development Ministry can breathe easy for now.

When asked yesterday about the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, Mr Mah said that whatever 'could be done by the private sector has already been done'.