SINGAPORE — Works on more than half the neighbourhood centres earmarked in 2011 for upgrading in East Coast, Jurong Lake and Hougang have concluded.
In a press statement on Sunday (April 9), the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said that 11 of the 21 neighbourhood centres have been spruced up as of last month at a cost of S$19 million, under its Remaking Our Heartland programme.
The remaining 10 centres, including ones in Bedok South Road and Jurong West Street 41, are in various stages of upgrading and will be completed progressively by 2019.
When fully completed, more than 800,000 residents and 1,500 shops in the estates will stand to gain from the S$42 million revitalisation.
In 2015, the Government announced plans to rejuvenate three other towns — Woodlands, Toa Payoh and Pasir Ris — under the programme. Fourteen neighbourhood centres housing about 670 shops are slated to be upgraded, benefiting more than half a million residents.
Details of the finalised renewal plans will be unveiled at exhibitions later this month, when residents can give their feedback.
The improvements to the neighbourhood centres — social hubs where residents can interact through activities — are meant to improve the identity of the neighbourhoods, infuse more greenery and fashion more spaces where communities can gather.
Take, for example, the Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre in the Jurong Lake area, where upgrading works wrapped up in October.
Comprising 65 shops, eateries, a market and a supermarket, the neighbourhood centre — erected more than three decades ago — spans Blocks 150 to 159 Bukit Batok Street 11 and serves about 27,000 residents living nearby.
Its maiden radical facelift has made it the first neighbourhood centre to have a community pavilion with rooftop greenery. The roof of the 280sqm pavilion boasts an assortment of plants in different hues and has a self-irrigation system to harvest rainwater.
The roof lowers the pavilion’s ambient temperature, for greater levels of comfort. And the pavilion features elements such as energy-efficient light-emitting diode lights, fans and power points for the convenience of residents who attend parties or gather there.
The HDB also heeded residents’ call for a community herb garden to be set up, and 15 residents have since stepped forward to tend to it.
The garden, the first of its kind in a neighbourhood centre, has more than 30 herb species now, up from nine initially. And it doubles up as an outdoor classroom for children from the nearby childcare centres.
Besides a new playground for residents and children to keep fit and play together, a green promenade, nearly 50 metres long, was created to ease accessibility in the neighbourhood centre.
It features lush landscaping and thrice as many seats as before. Residents also have smoother surfaces when travelling by foot, since more than 1,700 sqm of the neighbourhood centre’s floor space was retiled.
Before the East Coast, Hougang and Jurong Lake estates as well as the Woodlands, Toa Payoh and Pasir towns were picked, Punggol, Dawson and Yishun were the earliest estates identified for renewal in 2007.
