Some cities around the world have managed to produce green lungs, which are converted to open spaces intended to serve as tranquil sites where people can unwind.
Because of this achievement, Singapore should consider thinking resourceful methods for it to become a clean and green city, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew the previous day, subsequent to his tour on Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network.
“It’s (about) maximising our limited land space to give the most to everybody who wants to get out of the urban jungle. So you can come here and feel that your surroundings are completely different, the ambience is different”, said MM Lee. “And we’ve got to do this in many parts of Singapore in ingenious ways”.
MM Lee added that it will establish Singapore as a unique city.
“There are very few cities that can set out to do this. We started out just by greening the place and keeping it clean. Then we’ve tried to beautify it. Now we’re trying to give it some flourish”, the architect of the Garden City in Singapore said. The architect also noted that since Singapore is an urbanised area, uncultivated open spaces are fewer here. Therefore, the government opts to make “cultivated open spaces”.
The Park Connector Network is an example of this, which connects nature sites and parks in order to help Singaporeans get into nature and recreation. Developing a 300 km network is the current objective of the National Parks Board (NParks), who envisions its completion by 2015.
NParks has already constructed around 105 km of this project, including the 42 km Eastern Coastal stretch that was constructed in 2007. Yesterday, MM Lee has visited a part of the stretch, together with Mah Bow Tan, the Minister for National Development.
The Eastern Coastal stretch is the only one among the seven networks projected to be built throughout the island.
Government projects worth $1.3 billion are planned for the current year, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his Budget Statement last Thursday. The projects range from the construction of park connectors to the upgrading of HDB lift, as well as the military facilities upgrading.
Yesterday, a spokesman from NParks told reporters that it is planning to construct park connectors about 42 km for 2009, considering the economic downturn. This is about two times than the original 20 km target, and will cost around $40 million.
MM Lee also commented the previous day regarding the issue of littering. According to him, the problem is a constant crusade which will need the cooperation of the schools and the public, as well as the media.
“You’ve got one million foreign workers who are not part of the community, who come in with different habits. You need them to do the jobs that Singaporeans either don’t want to do or can’t do. You can’t say ‘You’re going to go through a training course before you start work’. So we have to put up with all these aberrations”.