SINGAPORE: The new Pasir Panjang Park, scheduled to open in phases from 2021, will include features that allow visitors to experience the natural and maritime history of the area.

The park, stretching from West Coast Park to Labrador Nature Reserve, is part of the Greater Southern Waterfront.

Pasir Panjang, which means long sand in Malay, used to be a long stretch of sandy beach. The area was rapidly developed from the 1970s through land reclamation and the building of Pasir Panjang Terminal.

READ: New attractions, housing and office spaces to be developed in Greater Southern Waterfront

Announcing this on Saturday (Oct 17), Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said that in designing the new park, the National Parks Board (NParks) held discussions with about 170 stakeholders between Jan 18 and May 31.

These include the area’s residents and interest groups.

The community took pride in Pasir Panjang’s rich history and wanted that to be featured in the park, said NParks.

“Future visitors will be brought down a Pasir Panjang memory lane, through incidental encounters with purposefully curated artefacts and programmes by the community, for the community,” the agency said.

These would include port items donated by PSA which would be placed in selected locations in the park.

READ: IN FOCUS: How urbanised Singapore is learning to live with its wildlife

“The stakeholders also had a strong preference for self-guided walks, preferring to hear about life in the past through other people’s perspectives and stories, rather than just historical facts about the area,” said NParks.

The community will also play an active role in the curation and programming efforts behind the Pasir Panjang story.

“Heritage boards and a heritage gallery will feature contributions of old photos by members of the public, enabling the community to tell the story of Pasir Panjang, thereby encouraging further contribution and sharing,” NParks said.

MORE NATURAL ELEMENTS

Three-quarters of the stakeholders also said that the park’s main feature should focus on natural elements, with less man-made materials.

Structures in the park such as public toilets will have green roofs to “soften the look” of the man-made structures, NParks said.

Reminiscent of the area’s sandy coastline prior to development, the landscaping will include plots of sand amid coastal vegetation.

READ: Singapore to plant 1 million trees, develop more gardens and parks by 2030

READ: Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network to be established, includes new Lim Chu Kang Nature Park

This would be reintroduced in the exact location of the old beach coastline along the old concrete railing beside the canal, NParks said.

“The restored coastal vegetation at Pasir Panjang Park not only strengthens the recreational link between West Coast Park and the southern waterfront, it will also serve as a buffer for Labrador Nature Reserve by providing the public with an alternative node to connect with nature,” it added.

There will also be a nature playgarden to encourage free play and sensory discovery among children, NParks said.

The first section of Pasir Panjang Park – from Pasir Panjang MRT to Jalan Pelepah residential estate – is scheduled to open in 2021.

SINGAPORE: The first batch of flats in Tengah’s Park District will be up for sale in the August Build-to-Order (BTO) exercise, said the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Monday (Aug 10).

This is the third district to be launched in Tengah, and it is where Singapore’s first “car-free” town centre will be located.

“Roads are planned to run beneath the town centre, freeing up space at the ground level for retail and recreational use,” HDB said.

“Separated from roads and traffic, the heart of the town centre will be safe and friendly for residents to walk and cycle.”

There will be a sports centre, retail spaces and eateries at the town centre, as well as an MRT station on the Jurong Region Line.

The first BTO housing estate to be launched for sale in Park District is Parc Residences @ Tengah, comprising 12 residential blocks with 1,044 units of two-room flexi, three-room, four-room and five-room flats.

Residents here will have access to a polyclinic, a supermarket, a food court, tuition centres and a childcare centre when the neighbourhood centre is completed in 2025.

“To encourage residents to adopt a healthier lifestyle, the neighbourhood centre will feature prominent stairways which open up directly into a variety of green community spaces on each floor,” said HDB.

A COMMUNITY FARM AMONG THE GREEN SPACES

Like Tengah’s two districts launched earlier, Park District features many green spaces.

“Park District will be encircled by greenery and green spaces, with Central Park nearby and green ways such as the Forest Corridor and Forest Fringe,” said HDB.

At Central Park, an existing canal will be “naturalised and landscaped”.

There will also be a 5km-long stretch of greenery that will served as a habitat for native fauna, as well as form part of the larger ecological corridor between the Western Water Catchment Area and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

READ: Farm features to be part of first HDB homes in new Tengah town

READ: First batch of flats in Tengah’s Garden District to be launched for sale in May

Residents will also have access to spaces for community gardening and farming.

“Within Park District, the farmways are about 600 metres long and 40 metres wide on average. HDB will partner (the National Parks Board) to provide some 3,000 square metres of space, equivalent to the size of 33 four-room flats, for community gardening and farming within the farmways,” it said.

“This is in addition to the community gardens within individual public housing projects.”

Another feature is the 1.5km-long Rainforest Walk which will weave through the housing projects.

“Social-communal facilities such as nature-themed playgrounds, fitness stations, open green spaces and seating areas will feature along the Rainforest Walk, particularly at portions where it runs through the housing projects or intersects the farmways.”

The multi-storey car park at Parc Residences @ Tengah has green features as well. Its rooftop garden will house playgrounds, fitness corners and a jogging track.

READ: HDB to launch 7,800 BTO flats in August sales exercise, services and construction activities to resume

Tengah is HDB’s 24th and newest town.

About the size of Bishan, it is set to provide about 42,000 new homes in five districts when fully developed.

In its August sales exercise, HDB will offer about 7,800 flats across Singapore for sale.

Apart from the flats in Tengah, units in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Choa Chu Kang, Geylang, Pasir Ris, Tampines and Woodlands will also be up for sale.

SINGAPORE: Singapore plans to plant 1 million trees and develop more and better connected green spaces over the next 10 years, said Second Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on Wednesday (Mar 4), as he announced a new stage of urban planning for the National Parks Board (NParks).

“We want to transform Singapore into a City in Nature to provide Singaporeans with a better quality of life while co-existing with flora and fauna of this island,” said Mr Lee.

“Indeed, with climate change, more extreme weather conditions, increased urbanisation, we must do more on this front.”

In February, NParks unveiled plans to create a 6km green connection linking the Singapore Botanic Gardens to the Singapore River. NParks also plans to redesign the Istana Park at Dhoby Ghaut by combining it with its surrounding green spaces.

READ: Plans for 6km green connection linking Singapore Botanic Gardens to Singapore River unveiled

Moving from Singapore being a “City in a Garden”, the country’s bid to become a “City in Nature” comprises four key thrusts: More nature parks, enhancing the natural environment in new and existing parks and gardens, integrating nature into the built environment and making green spaces more accessible.

By 2030, there will be another 200ha of nature parks, which act as complementary habitats and buffer nature reserves from urbanisation, said Mr Lee, who is also the Minister for Social and Family Development. A 40ha nature park is planned for Khatib Bongsu.

“This is important as nature reserves are the richest sources of our natural capital. They contain our primary and secondary rainforests, and core habitats for our native biodiversity and wildlife,” said Mr Lee.

Currently, nature parks are being established around Bukit Timah and Central Catchment Nature Reserves. Members of the public may use the space for nature-based recreation such as hiking and bird watching.

Over the next five years, NParks will also develop 140ha of new gardens and parks in Sengkang, Punggol, Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Timah.

Waterways and water bodies in gardens and parks will also be made more natural “to protect against sea-level rise and flooding”, said Mr Lee.

Other than that, NParks plans to conserve over 70 more native animal and plant species and enhance 30ha of forest, marine and coastal habitats over the next 10 years.

Roads, buildings and industrial estates will also become more green, as NParks aims to plant more trees.

Multi-tiered planting – started in 2013 – will continue to be implemented along roads, with these roads being called Nature Ways. Over the next 10 years, NParks hopes to create 300km of Nature Ways, and to make every road a Nature Way in the long-term.

Industrial estates, one of the hottest areas in Singapore, will get more than 100,000 trees over the next 10 years.

There will also be an additional 80ha of skyrise greenery over the next 10 years, which will bring the total skyrise greenery to 200ha by 2030.

More park connectors will also be available, with up to 500km of park connectors to be established by 2030, effectively putting “all households within a 10 minute-walk of a park”, said Mr Lee.

There are currently 340km of park connectors.

WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY

NParks will work with the community in greening Singapore, said Mr Lee, announcing the launch of the One Million Trees movement over the next 10 years. Currently, NParks plants about 50,000 trees a year.

“We want a whole new generation of Singaporeans to carry on this responsibility to keep planting and nurturing trees, for the benefit of future Singaporeans,” said Mr Lee.

So far, about 100 individuals and more than 100 groups and organisations have pledged their support to plant more than 120,000 trees.

Some of these organisations and groups include Friends of the Park community, Community in Nature schools, Community in Bloom gardening groups, the National University of Singapore (NUS), JTC, OCBC and Shimizu and their contractors.

Keppel Corporation has also pledged S$3 million to plant 10,000 trees in parks and nature reserves over the next five years, being the single largest tree planting donation to date.

NUS will plant 80,000 trees on its campus over the next 10 years, while JTC and its stakeholders will plant 30,000 trees on Jurong Island.

By 2030, NParks aims to expand its volunteer network from its current 48,000 to 70,000, and to work closely with more schools and partners in reforestation efforts and citizen science projects. It also hopes to expand the Community in Bloom programme by providing more allotment gardens and encouraging planting of edibles.

Working closely with the community also means that communities can help to design, build, manage and programme more than 50 parks and estates by 2025. This includes activities such as designing park signage, promoting park etiquette and partnering gardeners for landscape planting.

SINGAPORE: A new nature park network covering more than 400ha, triple the size of the existing Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, will be established in the northern part of Singapore, the National Parks Board (NParks) announced on Wednesday (Aug 19).

The Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network will comprise the Wetland Reserve, the Kranji Marshes, nature parks and eco-corridors, and nature areas such as Jalan Gemala and Kranji Reservoir.

The Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat will also be part of the network and projected to be completed in end 2022.

The network will be complemented by the upcoming recreational Round-Island-Route, which will connect the various green areas through trails and park connectors.

READ: Singapore to plant 1 million trees, develop more gardens and parks by 2030

The nature park network will also include a new 18ha Lim Chu Kang Nature Park to the west of the Wetland Reserve, linking it to the Lim Chu Kang mangroves which is expected to be established by early 2022.

The new nature park, formerly referred to as the Western Extension, will feature outdoor nature-play spaces to encourage children and youths to “spend more time outdoors and reconnect with nature” said NParks in a press release.

Cashin House, also located in the nature park, will be “enhanced sensitively for both natural and built heritage” and will be used for educational programmes. It will include new facilities such as an exhibition space, seminar rooms for workshops and a seaview terrace.

NParks will call a tender for works on Cashin House and its surrounding areas shortly, with construction expected to commence in the fourth quarter of this year and will be completed in early 2022, subject to the COVID-19 situation.

With the new nature park network, more than 15km of nature trails will also be open to the public.

In a virtual media briefing on Wednesday, NParks’ group director of conservation Adrian Loo said: “The Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network will be very important in extending our natural capital in our ‘City in Nature’ vision.”

“The network itself will extend the habitats available for wildlife, importantly for wildlife such as birds that migrate globally and use Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserves as a stopover.”

“It also allows for our park users and our residents to actually enjoy more parks and be close to nature, without impacting the core areas too much,” said Dr Loo, adding that the new network will help reduce the visitor pressure to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Kranji Marshes, as well as Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat.

“Especially during the COVID-19 period, people are seeking solace or safe recreation in our parks as we have safe distance measures within these areas,” said Dr Loo.

Minister for National Development Mr Desmond Lee had announced in March that by 2030, there will be another 200ha of nature parks, which will act as complementary habitats and buffer nature reserves from urbanisation.

READ: Plans for 6km green connection linking Singapore Botanic Gardens to Singapore River unveiled

In the press release on Wednesday, NParks said that the decision to safeguard buffer zones and complementary wetland habitats around the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve was determined through “extensive research that established the ecological connectivity and complementarity between the sites”.

For example, the Wetland Reserve and the Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat Nature Park are important refuelling sites for migratory shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

“Wetland habitats also provide a wide variety of goods and services such as serving as a food source and nursery ground for numerous marine organisms, storing carbon and mitigating coastal erosion,” said NParks.

A total of 279 species of birds have been recorded in the Wetland Reserve and the surrounding complementary habitats, and conserving these “ecologically inter-dependent” areas in the nature park network will enhance the conservation of these birds and the associated ecosystems, it added.