Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at the Opening of Rail Corridor Buona Vista Node
Apr 22, 2024
Good morning. I’m delighted to be here and thank you for joining me this morning at this wonderful green space in Buona Vista, part of our historic Rail Corridor.
Planning for our Long-Term Future
As many of you would know, Singapore is an island city-state – the only one in the world. Given this, we have to very carefully steward our limited land and resources so that we provide space for both current and future generations in Singapore.
How do we do this? We do this by undertaking what we call a Long-Term Plan Review every 10 years, to plan for 50 years ahead of us. Our most recent Long-Term Plan Review concluded in 2022. After that, having set out the 50-year horizon, we carry out an extensive Master Planning exercise every five years, to translate these long-term strategies into detailed plans on the ground, for the next 10 to 15 years.
In October last year, we launched our public engagement exercise for Draft Master Plan 2025, or DMP2025. It’s an important exercise because we don’t just look at broad strategies, we translate them onto the ground, into different neighbourhoods and different parts of Singapore.
One of the key themes for DMP2025 is titled “Stewarding Nature & Heritage” – by this, we will strengthen the distinctive character and heritage of our towns and neighbourhoods, and enhance our green and blue spaces, so that they benefit Singaporeans by bringing us closer to nature and reminding us of our history and heritage.
Significance of the Rail Corridor
It is quite fitting that we are here today along the Rail Corridor. Formerly the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) railway line, the Rail Corridor once connected passengers and goods between Singapore and Malaysia. For those of us old enough to remember, we could take a train from Tanjong Pagar all the way to Malaysia. Today, the Rail Corridor connects communities from the north to the south of Singapore, and brings Singaporeans closer to nature and heritage.
These developments did not come by chance, but are the result of careful planning and extensive public consultations over the years.
Working closely with stakeholders like our Rail Corridor Partnership, and now the Friends of Rail Corridor, we developed the vision for the Rail Corridor with a three-way balance in mind.
First, to preserve the Rail Corridor as a continuous green artery – for nature to thrive and for communities of all ages and abilities to enjoy. Second, we want to celebrate the heritage along the Rail Corridor by conserving, restoring, and repurposing key railway buildings and elements. Third, to optimise the development of land parcels adjacent to the Rail Corridor, to meet Singaporeans’ needs for homes, jobs, and amenities both now and in the future.
Key Highlights of Buona Vista Community Node
I am glad to be here with you to celebrate another significant milestone for our Rail Corridor journey. Since the opening of Rail Corridor (North) at the Kranji community node in February last year, we have opened the third community node at the PIE viaduct near Rifle Range Nature Park in July last year.
Today, we are here to open the fourth community node, here at Buona Vista. This new community node provides an inclusive space for people of all ages to gather; it brings nearby residents and workers working nearby in one-north closer to nature; and it also provides much-needed relief from our dense urban environment as part of our ongoing efforts to transform Singapore into a City in Nature.
Let me highlight a few ways that the Buona Vista node achieves this.
First, we tapped on our existing green spaces along the Rail Corridor to bring nature closer to our homes and workspaces. Here, we have integrated nature and heritage through vegetated swales. These swales are broad shallow vegetated channels to collect and transport rainwater and surface runoff. These resemble the original stream and marshland landscape of the Rail Corridor before the railway was built, and it provides new habitats for dragonflies and other biodiversity to thrive along the Rail Corridor.
Second, we enhanced the public spaces to bring the community together. This includes the area where we are now, under the North Buona Vista Link viaduct – it would otherwise have been an unused space. But because of planning, we can now use it, and can flexibly programme it for community and sports events. I hope that we make use of these spaces. My colleagues from URA, NParks, and JTC, along with Ho Bee Land and many of our volunteers, have creatively integrated this space, with the Rail Corridor to activate and enliven the entire area.
Third, we improved accessibility so that people of all ages and abilities can come together. Within the community node, fitness areas have been designed to be accessible to individuals of different abilities. Next to us, a new access path connects the Rail Corridor to Elementum, a new mixed-use biomedical hub. Users will have convenient access to end-of-trip amenities such as bicycle parking, lockers, and shower facilities. These amenities are expected to open in the coming months, together with new dining options.
These have been made possible with the involvement of private and community stakeholders – Dr Chua Thian Poh and colleagues from Ho Bee Land, as well as volunteers such as NUS Toddycats – I thank all of you for your contributions and effort into making this possible. My appreciation also goes out to URA, NParks, and JTC colleagues for working hard alongside our partners.
If you like what you see here at this community node, you may be glad to know that in the next few years, we will be establishing more of such community nodes that bring people together, including at Queensway, at the former Bukit Timah Fire Station, as well as the historic Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, and maybe more.
Shaping the Future of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station Together
We will continue to shape the future of the Rail Corridor with all of you. In this spirit, we will be launching an Ideas Competition for the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station today, titled “From Dreams to ‘Rail-ity’”.
Many of you may recall that the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station was a key node and terminus of the former KTM railway line for goods and people since the year 1932, until its closure in 2011, when the last train left the station. The Tanjong Pagar Railway Station is a significant part of our railway history and bears testimony to the rapid development of trade, industry, and transport from Singapore’s colonial period and our historical links to Malaysia.
With its rich heritage and history, the station was gazetted as a National Monument in 2011.
Significant efforts have been taken to retain as much of the station as possible. This includes reassembling and reinstating each of the 63 platform canopy panels, each weighing 60 tonnes, which had been kept in storage during the construction of the Cantonment MRT station underneath the railway station platform. In order to build the underground station, contractors had to remove these platforms and canopies in order for the work to continue. Now that the work is nearing its end, they are bringing each of these pieces back, carefully reinstating them after years of storage.
These efforts help preserve the memory and sense of arrival at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. In the future, when Cantonment MRT station opens, you’ll be alighting at the underground station, and you can come up to the ground level to visit the historic platforms and experience what it would have been like to arrive at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. Restoration works for the railway station building are expected to be completed by 2028.
Through this Ideas Competition, we want to hear your ideas on how we can re-imagine the Tanjong Pagar railway station as a unique heritage and community node along the Rail Corridor, and how we can adaptively reuse the building to celebrate this important piece of our railway heritage and history.
We see immense potential to transform the site into a vibrant multi-functional community building, with attractive, inclusive, and inviting public spaces for all. And we look forward to receiving innovative proposals from the public, which will help us to guide its development into the future.
Some of you may also have fond memories and stories of the station before it closed in July 2011. As we shape the plans for the station, we encourage and invite you to share your stories of this place with my colleagues at URA.
Shaping Our City Together
Today’s launch of the Buona Vista Community node shows what we can achieve together as a community.
We will continue to work with you to shape the future of our city here in Singapore. Our Draft Master Plan 2025 engagements are ongoing, so do share your ideas with us.
We look forward to continue partnering you in this journey to shape a city that is liveable, inclusive, sustainable and endearing to all.
Thank you, enjoy the space, and have a wonderful day ahead.