Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on E-appointment Booking for Visitors at Columbaria

Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on E-appointment Booking for Visitors at Columbaria by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment

Ms Hazel Poa: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) what is the maximum number of concurrent users that the NEA ePortal can accommodate; (b) whether the number of users has frequently exceeded this maximum capacity when the e-appointment booking for visitors parking at Choa Chu Kang Columbarium and Mandai Columbarium is opened during the Qing Ming period; and (c) whether there are plans to upgrade the NEA ePortal to improve the e-appointment booking process.

Answer:

1 The National Environment Agency (NEA) e-appointment booking system for parking during Qing Ming was upgraded this year to concurrently handle up to 800 applications, double that of last year. Additional applicants would be placed on a queue to await their turn.

2 The e-appointment booking system experienced some technical issues when it was opened for booking on 4 March 2024. This led to intermittency and longer than expected queue time for some users in the first two hours after booking opened. Thereafter, most users were able to complete their bookings within 5 minutes. NEA will further improve on the e-appointment system for Qing Ming next year.