Why did these trees become botak?

STOMPer Hawk's eye thinks that the branches and leaves are stripped off these trees along Changi Coast Road for safety reasons, due to their proximity to the Changi Airport.

In an email sent to STOMP last night (Sep 28), the STOMPer wrote:

"As I was driving along Changi Coast Road, I was puzzled when I looked at the trees in the forest just across the canal.

"For almost a stretch of 500m, some of the trees appeared to be tall stumps without a crown on top.

"Suddenly it dawned on me that the trees were close to the Changi Airport and that the crowns of the trees could be hazardous to aerial navigation.

"It must have cost a colossal sum of money to employ a contractor to cut down the top of those trees.

"However, safety overrides the cost of cutting and that is why the trees are 'botak'."