Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at the update on Clementi Nature Corridor at Community Tree Planting
Aug 31, 2024
Thank you for joining us today for habitat restoration along Clementi Nature Trail.
We’ve been here many times already, and in fact in 2021, we shared plans for the new Clementi Nature Corridor, which connects Holland Green Linear Park and the Rail Corridor to Jurong Lake Gardens in the west, via the Old Jurong Line Nature Trail and the new Jurong Town Hall Park Connector. Clementi Nature Corridor also connects the Rail Corridor with Ulu Pandan Park Connector to the south via the Clementi Nature Trail, where we are now.
This corridor will provide Singaporeans with greater recreational opportunities, while enabling them to connect with and be much closer to nature.
It will also strengthen ecological connectivity for wildlife between Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Southern Ridges. It is one of the ecological corridors that we conceptualised under NParks’ island-wide Ecological Profiling Exercise (EPE).
Last year, we opened a stretch of the Clementi Nature Trail near Ulu Pandan Road and linkages to enhance connectivity between the Rail Corridor and Holland Green Linear Park.
Today, I am excited to share a few updates on the Clementi Nature Corridor.
Clementi Nature Trail
First, we will enhance stretches of the Clementi Nature Trail, along Clementi Forest Stream and Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal.
On your right, you can see Military Hill, which is where the trail will continue through to the completed section of Clementi Nature Trail off Ulu Pandan Road. It’s called Military Hill for a reason; there’s a lot of heritage and history and it didn’t look like that in the past.
You can look forward to additional natural features including a rustic nature trail and stepping stones over the natural stream.
Native species will also be planted along the trail to enhance the ecological resilience of the surrounding habitats.
We conducted an EIA over the past year, and we worked with our nature community and Friends of Clementi-Ulu Pandan Nature Corridor, to ensure that these works are carried out sensitively to the environment.
We also organised a BioBlitz where volunteers helped us to survey flora and fauna along Clementi Forest Stream.
We will start work at the end of this year, and target to complete the Clementi Nature Trail by end-2025.
Old Jurong Line Nature Trail
Another highlight of the Clementi Nature Corridor is the Old Jurong Line Nature Trail.
It traces the alignment of the former Jurong Railway Line that transported goods between Malaysia and Jurong from the 1960s to the 1990s, and ran through Clementi.
The trail will provide us an additional connection between Jurong Lake Gardens and the Rail Corridor.
You’ve shared with us that you would like this trail to celebrate its heritage and history, and at the same time be conducive for recreation.
We will therefore safeguard this trail for ecological and recreational connectivity, with parts of it running through Clementi Forest and Sunset Way Woods.
We will restore this trail so that more Singaporeans can explore and enjoy the old rail line. This will be done in phases, and stretches of the trail that run through more ecologically sensitive areas will undergo the necessary environmental studies.
We will start work on the first phase of the trail in early-2025, and progressively open the trail from end-2026.
I am also happy to announce that a new community node will be added along the Old Jurong Line Nature Trail near Faber Walk. We will put in seating areas and a nature playgarden at this rest node, and also retain remnant tracks of the Old Jurong Line.
If all goes to plan, the community node should be ready when we open the first phase of the Old Jurong Line Nature Trail.
Jurong Town Hall Park Connector
In addition to these new trails and nodes, we will be opening the new Jurong Town Hall Park Connector in September.
This park connector which runs along Jurong Town Hall Road and AYE, is roughly 2 km-long. It can bring you from Jurong Lake Gardens to the existing Ulu Pandan Park Connector, and further on to the Rail Corridor.
When this opens next month, 11 km of the 18 km of recreational routes planned for the Clementi Nature Corridor will be publicly accessible.
Conclusion
In closing, I would like to thank everyone here and the Friends of Clementi-Ulu Pandan Nature Corridor in particular, for partnering us in creating a recreational green network that all Singaporeans can enjoy.
Let us continue working together to transform Singapore into a City in Nature.
Thank you, and have a wonderful day ahead.