SINGAPORE: More than 90,000 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) national servicemen and their families living in northwest Singapore can now look forward to a new SAFRA clubhouse within Choa Chu Kang Park.
It will be SAFRA’s seventh clubhouse in Singapore.
Billed as a “Fitness Oasis” by SAFRA, it houses a “comprehensive suite” of fitness, recreation and dining facilities to meet “the varied lifestyle needs of national servicemen and their families”. This includes a sheltered swimming pool with a view of the park, a “skypark running circuit” within the club and a nature-themed playground aimed at inculcating an appreciation of nature in children.
Concept impression of the swimming pool in new the SAFRA Choa Chu Kang club. (Image: SAFRA)
The new clubhouse was announced by SAFRA President and Second Minister for Defence Ong Ye Kung at a national service appreciation ceremony at the Keat Hong Community Club on Sunday (May 28).
“The provision of SAFRA clubhouses has been meaningful to national servicemen, and we want to improve our efforts in this area,” said Mr Ong. “The northwest of Singapore is rapidly building up – including Choa Chu Kang and also a new town at Tengah – and we would like to expand SAFRA facilities for national servicemen and their families living in this part of Singapore.”
Concept impression of EnergyOne gym in new SAFRA Choa Chu Kang club. (Image: SAFRA)
Mr Ong added that the new SAFRA club will also be seamlessly integrated with Choa Chu Kang Park’s facilities and programmes to make the park a more attractive meeting point for Singaporeans. The National Parks Board (NParks) will also be enhancing the current Park Connector Network in Choa Chu Kang to improve accessibility from the stadium to the park and the new club.
The clubhouse will be open to national servicemen training in nearby SAF camps at Kranji, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Gedong and Tengah for recreation and unit cohesion activities organised by SAFRA.
Sunday’s appreciation ceremony was part of activities commemorating 50 years of National Service (NS50) in Singapore. It saw 80 father-and-son pairs receive recognition packages, which include S$100 worth of vouchers for use at selected retail and food and beverage outlets.
SAFRA will be introducing a string of other NS50 initiatives throughout the year. They include 50 events, 500 special deals together with partnering merchants – such as Watsons, Caltex and Robinsons – and 50,000 giveaways of movie and dining treats. SAFRA aims to engage more than 500,000 national servicemen and their families through these efforts.
The date of the clubhouse’s completion has yet to be announced.
