A HISTORIC compromise between greenies and golfers over the Kranji Sanctuary Golf Course near Neo Tiew Lane 3 is falling apart.

A key issue was resolved last year when the developer of the course, the National Service Resort and Country Club, agreed to maintain a 60m buffer zone between the new course and the marshlands to protect its 141 bird species.

This meant 8 ha being taken from the 72-ha course being built on the Kranji freshwater marshlands. It is due to be completed in August next year.

Now the Nature Society Singapore says that the club is not keeping up to its end of the deal and is putting at risk the marshland vegetation in the area, which many different species of birds use as feeding and breeding grounds.

These include rare and threatened birds like the lesser whistling duck and purple swamphens.

The society's chief worry is the proposed reclamation of an area, which it says was not mentioned in the earlier plans for the golf course or the compromise deal with the society.

Called Jelutong bay, at the northern-most tip of the golf course, it is part of Sungei Jelutong, which leads out from Kranji reservoir.

The society had asked for this part of the coastline to be left untouched because it is a feeding ground for birds from the Kranji marshland and the nearby Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

It found out about the reclamation plans during a site visit a few months ago, said its conservation head, Dr Ho Hua Chew.

Reclamation would disrupt the food sources and cause the bird population to dwindle, the society believes.

But the developer insists that it needs to push out the coastline by 25 to 30m to accommodate one full hole and part of three others. If not, it says, the course cannot be built.

The reclamation has already been approved by both the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Public Utilities Board, which governs reservoirs. The bay area is part of the land leased to the club.

The society is also concerned about keeping open a green corridor between this feeding area and the inland marshes near the SingTel transmission site near Neo Tiew Road, so that the birds can move easily from one marsh to another and intermingle.

Besides the Kranji birds, herons from the nearby Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve also feed at the Jelutong bay area.

The developer has agreed to leave a metre-wide stretch along the upper boundary of the course, starting from the bay.

Not enough, said Dr Ho, who explained that the green band needs to be very much wider if the birds are not to be disturbed by golfers.

A third point of contention is the ponds.

Dr Ho thinks that instead of carving out fully man-made ponds as 'water hazards', the club should use the marshy pockets and turn them into ponds, to preserve as much of the natural vegetation as possible.

Colonel (Ret) Tang Mun Poh, 57, the club's general manager, said that the ponds would help conserve nature as they would have soft banks rather than concrete ones to support native plants and wildlife. Plus, an existing marshy pocket near the SingTel site would be expanded.

But does this mean the uneasy truce between golfers and greenies is over?

Clearly disappointed, Dr Ho said: 'They have not kept their end of the bargain for some points they had earlier agreed to, like the marshy ponds.'

Not so, said Col Tang, who argued that the club had done all it could to accommodate nature.

He said he was sure the birds would return when the course was ready. 'Birds are very resilient,' he said.

Though time is running short, Nature Society president Geh Min is not giving up hope.

This has been a good opportunity to show that golf and nature can be compatible, she said. 'If they fail to do so, it will be a great pity. But we will never give up... because we cannot afford to give up on nature.'

DISPUTE: Nests of rare birds and marshland trees