A steering committee has been set up to drive the development plans for Jurong Lake District and its surrounding areas, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.
The committee will be headed by Culture, Community and Youth Minister Lawrence Wong. It will comprise members from the public and private sectors, as well as the community.
Mr Tharman, who also a Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC, said the committee will look at all the options and gather ideas and feedback before the plans are finalised. The plans include merging the Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden and Jurong Lake Park into the Jurong Lake Gardens.
“The new Jurong Lake Gardens will not be developed in a rush. We will take care that it retains its special character,” Mr Tharman told residents at a community cleanup of Jurong Lake on Sunday morning (Oct 19).
“The challenge that we have is to ensure that we retain the natural feel and sense of heritage of this place, but inject life and enable many more Singaporeans to enjoy the place. It must be – as Prime Minister Lee put it – a ‘people’s garden’ filled with activities and community events, and where the spirit of community gardening comes alive.”
Mr Tharman said the Jurong Lake Gardens is a fresh vision for an area that has undergone a few transformations since the 1960s.
Mr Wong compared the development of Jurong Lake District to that of Marina Bay, which started from an empty slate. “In the same way, what we are planning to do for Jurong Lake District is very much about having conviction and faith in Singapore’s future and thinking about how we can make it even better. And that was how we got here today.”
“Fifty years ago, Jurong was very different, and now it’s significantly improved. And just as 50 years ago, we made Jurong the frontier for industrialisation, that was the new way forward for our industrialisation push. I think now we’re looking at how we can make Jurong Lake District the new frontier to create a high-quality sustainable live-work-play environment and so that we can have a much better Jurong Lake District for the future, for our next generation. So that’s what this project is about.”
Early next year, the National Parks Board will be seeking ideas from the public, which will be added to the brief for the masterplan competition for Jurong Lake Gardens.
A Water-Venture Committee (Jurong Lake) by the People’s Association Water-Venture has also been set up to engage more residents in water and adventure sports, as well as promote greater care and love for community spaces.
Gerard Lim, 27, a member of Water-Venture Committee (Jurong Lake) and a PhD student in applied physics from NTU, said: “Jurong Lake has become more and more popular over the years. What happens is that we’re having more people coming and using this area. That means more litter as well. So this initiative actually makes people more aware of this area, Jurong Lake, and to learn to keep this place clean.”
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 19 Oct 2014