By Grace Chua

A PART of Nanyang Drive which winds through the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) campus has been renamed Lien Ying Chow Drive in honour of the late banker and philanthropist.

The 600m section of the 3km-long road is now the only one on campus without 'Nanyang' in its name.

The other thoroughfares there bear names like Nanyang Avenue, Nanyang Walk and Nanyang Crescent.

Dr Lien, who died in 2004, was a founding father of Nantah, the original Nanyang University.

Over the past four years, the Lien Foundation has given more than $27million to NTU, making it one of the university's largest donors.

It took university administrators more than a year to secure approval from the authorities to rename that section of Nanyang Drive.

NTU development director Marina Tan-Harper said her office had first sought permission from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore for property-tax reasons, and then from the Land Transport Authority.

NTU student Vanessa Tan, 19, was among student volunteers who welcomed the guest of honour, President S R Nathan, at the renaming event yesterday.

She said of the new name, which stands out from other road names on the campus: 'It's less boring that way, though I think most people still know it as Nanyang Drive.'

The Lien Foundation's other projects with NTU include a global environmental technology programme, a research centre on Chinese business and enterprise, and an exchange fellowship for senior Chinese officials, academics and professionals.

The foundation also funds a number of other causes, such as a centre for palliative care, post-tsunami reconstruction in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, and bursaries and scholarships for Singapore students.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on December 30, 2008.