Mr Tai Lee Siang, President of the Singapore Institute of Architects

Friends from the architectural and building fraternity

Distinguished guests

Introduction

I am pleased to be here tonight. The architecture fraternity is a key partner of the Ministry of National Development and its agencies. While we set out the plans to guide the growth and development of Singapore, it is you who translate these plans into quality designs that shape our cityscape.

A Liveable Home, A Distinctive City

2. As joint partners in development, we have worked closely together to transform Singapore into the modern yet liveable city of today. We have gained international attention not only for our economic achievements, but increasingly, also for our high quality living environment. Mercer’s Annual World-wide Quality of Living survey (2006) ranked Singapore Asia’s No. 1 for the quality of our living environment. We are also among the top 20 global vibrant cities 2008 Hub Culture Zeitgeist Cities Ranking. These are encouraging endorsements of our persistent and consistent efforts to maintain a sustainable balance between economic growth and a quality living environment.

3. A liveable environment is our key competitive advantage and a key differentiator for Singapore as a desirable place for business and talents. We should work together to further sharpen Singapore’s distinctiveness as a vibrant yet liveable city. Indeed, this important goal has guided the preparation of the Draft Master Plan 2008, which URA will unveil in two days’ time.

Leisure Plan 08 : Building a Hip and Liveable Home

Greenery and Rustic Options

4. Under the Draft Master Plan 2008, there will be a new Leisure Plan, which proposes a full range of new leisure and recreational options for Singaporeans. The Leisure Plan will underpin the effort to make Singapore a great place to live and play for Singaporeans and foreigners alike.

5. One of the key thrusts will be to vastly transform our cityscape into a City of Gardens and Water -- where greenery and blue spaces will be pervasive. We will inject more parks and greenery into our city. We will also activate waterways and integrate them with developments to provide waterfront housing and leisure options. In total, we will increase the land safeguarded for parks in the next 15 years from 3,300 ha today to 4,200 ha. Our park connector network will more than triple, from the 100 km planned under Master Plan 2003 to 360 km in Master Plan 2008.

6. There will also be several new major parks. These include the Gardens by the Bay, Punggol Riverine Town Park, Woodlands Waterfront, Sungei Loyang, an Interpretative Centre at Dairy Farm Nature Park and the Rowers’ and Family Bays at Lower Seletar Reservoir. A number of smaller neighbourhood parks that are closer to residential areas have also been planned. These parks, together with our existing parks, will become active grounds for concerts, festival celebrations and community activities.

7. We will also make the parks more accessible through a network of seven regional park connector loops. An amazing centrepiece of this park connector network is the 150-km round-island route of park connectors, promenades and trails that will enable us to walk, run and cycle around our whole country. I think we may be the first and only people in the world to be able to take a walk, relatively easily, around our whole country.

8. When fully completed, the Round-Island Route will bring Singaporeans even closer to our coastline and greenery. You can spend a morning with your family at East Coast Park, enjoy the sea breeze at the new coastal promenades at Punggol and Woodlands, or take an evening stroll through our hilltops at the Southern Ridges. For the more adventurous, you can set off on a weekend exploration trip to the many corners of Singapore, such as cycling around the rustic Changi Point or go on a nature trek through the mangrove forests and farmland at Kranji / Lim Chu Kang.

9. The Kranji / Lim Chu Kang area, with its lush greenery, wide expanse of waterways and farmlands, will be developed as an attractive weekend refuge for urban dwellers. There will be more park land and educational programming at Sungei Buloh wetlands, new nature trails through the Kranji Marshes and non-motorized boating activities at Kranji Reservoir. The Mandai Nature Cluster, one of the four key tourist destinations identified by STB and URA, will be transformed into one of Asia’s must-visit nature-themed destination for the whole family. Singaporeans can also look forward to more resorts and lifestyle options at our rustic coastal getaway in Changi.

10. So, Singaporeans need not be concerned that higher economic and population growth will come at the expense of a sense of space and greenery. In fact, through judicious land use planning, we will be able to set aside land for the development of new leisure options in a rustic setting, to provide valuable getaways for our city dwellers.

A Vibrant City

11. Even as we seek to further green our city, we want to add life and colour to our city centre. URA has been working with various agencies to enhance our night-time buzz in four key precincts including Orchard Road, Singapore River, Bras Basah.Bugis and Marina Bay. Both the hardware and software in these areas will be enhanced to develop a vibrant evening economy, one that contributes to the quality of life and adds to the buzz and hip factor of our city.

12. There will be "hardware" improvements such as the introduction of night lighting, new street furniture and more attractive activity spaces in the four key precincts to facilitate events and create the ambience for people to stay out till late at night. Programming in these areas will also be strengthened to create an ambience of excitement and energy in the air. Such programming is important as they contribute to the "soul" of the city life.

13. Here in Singapore, we can look forward to STB’s Singapore River Festival where the stakeholders along Singapore River put together a series of events and activities starting in September this year. The National Heritage Board is also developing a Night Festival in the Bras Basah/Stamford Road area over two weekends in July. There will be a weekend street theatre, live music, dance performances, interactive programmes. This will position the precinct as a venue for large-scale night events and create synergy between existing developments such as the Stamford Green, National Museum and SMU. Such software programming will better position our precincts and make them compelling destinations for locals and tourists alike.

SIA’s Efforts

14. These plans under the Leisure Plan will collectively, seek to remake our city as a liveable city in a garden that is throbbing with vitality and life at the same time. However, we need to work with the architect fraternity to materialize these plans and shape our built environment with us. In this regard, I am very happy to note that SIA is taking bold initiatives both domestically and internationally to develop new competencies and to work towards shaping Singapore as a distinctive green city.

15. One of such initiatives by SIA is the Archifest, which was held end of last year as a prelude to a proposed Singapore Architecture Biennale in 2010. It aims to educate and engage students and the general public in city planning and architecture. I am pleased to launch tonight the SIA-NParks Skyrise Greenery Awards, jointly presented by SIA and the National Parks Board, which will be held in conjunction with ArchiFest08 this October.

16. On the international front, SIA has taken the bold step to bid for the hosting of the International Union of Architects World Congress in 2014. In line with our city’s efforts to maintain a sustainable balance between growth and a quality living environment, the SIA has adopted the theme of "Green Cities" for its bid. Indeed, in the global context of growing urbanization and migration of population towards cities, many cities, like us, are also grappling how to maintain environmental quality in the context of economic growth and higher population density. If we succeed in our bid, the triennial UIA World Congress, which is one of the world’s largest international architecture and urban design conferences of architects, will be an excellent platform to engage participants worldwide to discuss and exchange ideas and expertise on how we could build even more "Green Cities". The UIA Congress in Singapore will also provide impetus for intra-regional collaboration among South East Asian cities towards a sustainable region. To show the Government’s strong support for Singapore’s bid, I will be leading the SIA delegation to Turin in July to present the bid to host the event.

Conclusion

17. Let me conclude by saying that I am very excited with the plans both within the public and private sectors to remake our city. I hope you are too. By working together, I am confident we can establish Singapore on the world map as an outstanding world city. With that, I wish you all a pleasant evening ahead. Thank you.

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