The way Punggol West has used existing facilities in the interim, such as converting Residents’ Committee (RC) centres to provide childcare and playgroup services, is an approach new towns can consider, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said yesterday.

And the authorities will increasingly need to look at a similar formula of using existing facilities for different uses, given the changing profiles and needs of towns every 10 to 30 years.

“How do we turn around the facilities so that (they) can be adapted to meet the residents of that time? Something that’s more versatile, more flexible, allowing us to bring in more current programmes.

“That will be a good way, a sustainable way to develop ourselves,” she told reporters on the sidelines during a visit to Punggol West.

Referring to the ward’s conversion of facilities to provide more social services for its young families, she added: “This is a very good way while we wait for more permanent facilities to come about.”

She noted that as the children in this area grow older, the RC centres can be turned into study corners or even facilities for the elderly.

On the feedback she received during her visit, Ms Fu said the more senior residents who have previously lived in mature towns may notice differences in transport, for instance.

“But they recognise that this is, in a way, something they need to develop over time. And many of them are understanding; they’re giving time for the permanent facilities to be built up.

“Because (the town is) young, I think there are a lot of services required by the families, and I see that there are provisions being done,” she said, citing the container library launched yesterday as an example.

Located on an unused plot of land next to a residential block in Punggol Walk, the air-conditioned library contains more than 3,000 books, catering mostly for younger children.

The area’s Member of Parliament Sun Xueling said a common call she heard from residents was for children- and education-related amenities.

This was where she felt that a container library could be provided through ground-up initiatives to meet the residents’ needs before the permanent Punggol Town Hub library is ready in 2020.

Young parents living in the area welcomed the temporary library. Ms Gillian Tan, 30, who works in corporate communications, said she was excited about the new library, given its convenient location opposite her place.

“(My daughter) likes to read books, but it (can be) a bit inconvenient to take her out to other places,” said Ms Tan, who used to take her two-year-old daughter to the library at Hougang Mall.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by SIAU MING EN

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