SINGAPORE: Tanjong Pagar GRC and Radin Mas SMC are set for a facelift under a five-year rejuvenation plan that will introduce more green spaces, sheltered walkways and pedestrian-friendly streets.
The plan was unveiled on Sunday (Feb 2) at Redhill Market, where Tanjong Pagar Town Council chairman and Radin Mas MP Melvin Yong launched an exhibition showcasing the upcoming improvements.
The five-year plan is part of the Remaking Our Heartland Programme. Under this initiative, all six divisions of Tanjong Pagar town – Buona Vista, Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru, Moulmein-Cairnhill, Queenstown, Henderson-Dawson and Radin Mas – will receive upgrades.
The rejuvenation plan was shaped through months of community engagement and will guide improvements until 2030, according to a press release from the town council.
KEY UPGRADES
More green corridors and pedestrian-friendly streets will be introduced, creating a more walkable and sustainable environment for residents. Such streets will be at locations with high pedestrian flow and near key amenities such as markets, hawker centres and community centres.
Additional sheltered walkways and ramps will improve accessibility throughout the town.
At the same time, upgraded roads and enhanced public transport nodes will improve connectivity to other parts of Singapore. Those opting for sustainable transport will benefit from increased electric vehicle charging stations and additional bicycle racks.
In addition to a new health district at Queenstown – an older estate with more senior residents – all precincts there will have larger block numbers and clearer signage to help visitors and residents navigate the estate and identify their blocks, by 2030.
All 156 Housing and Development Board (HDB) car parks in Tanjong Pagar town will be equipped with EV charging points by the end of this year.
The town will also cut down on energy use by progressively switching to LED smart lights that use up to 60 per cent less energy, installing Elevator Energy Regeneration Systems that cut elevator energy consumption by about 20 per cent, and using data to optimise the estates’ electricity usage.
Up to 58,000 solar panels will be installed on HDB rooftops across Tanjong Pagar town by 2030, with surplus energy fed back into the power grid.
More specialised recycling facilities will be rolled out across the town, including those for e-waste and used cooking oil. The food digester machine, which converts food waste into compost, has already been trialled at Redhill Market and Tanjong Pagar Plaza, with plans to expand the initiative to other hawker centres.
Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the event, Mr Yong said the refreshed plan was a continuation of the previous five-year plan. He said the team incorporated learning points from before, such as standardising the template for sheltered walkways to maintain cost efficiency.
Mr Yong added that the town council wanted to create more shared spaces as the number of people was increasing in the area.
“So I decided that, working with the team, we want to create more shared spaces so that residents are able to meet up to interact, and also for the community organisations to hold activities.
“We also have a lot of older residents, so connectivity is very important,” he said, adding that residents have also been creating their own paths in the estate over time.
“So we will work closely with the community groups and residents. When we want to start building all this connectivity, I think their inputs are very important so that we don’t build a path and then later we build another path.”
