PUBLISHED ONAugust 20, 2025 1:05 AMBYSean LerNext year's National Day Parade (NDP) will be held at the National Stadium, said Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing at the NDP 2025 appreciation event on Tuesday (Aug 19).
During the event held at the Surbana Jurong Campus, nearly 580 partners were presented with awards for their contributions and commitment towards this year's NDP.
Touching on themes that he felt were needed to make the SG60 NDP a success, such as innovation, perseverance and inclusiveness, Chan said that every NDP "honours our past and envisions our future".
Turning to next year, he said that NDP 2026 will be held in Kallang.
"Next year, in the same spirit, we will do something different. Next year, we will have our NDP 2026, SG61, at the Singapore Sports Hub.
"We were last there almost 10 years back, but because of Covid-19, it interrupted our sequence," said Chan.
National Stadium was the venue for NDP in 2016, the first and only year the parade was held at the 55,000-seater, completed in 2014.
That year, costs came up to $39.4 million, double the amount for previous parades held at the former Marina Bay floating platform, which cost between $15.7 million and $17.9 million.
In 2022, then-Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong, in a parliamentary reply to Ang Mo Kio MP Darryl David, said that the government would "certainly be open" to holding NDP at the Sports Hub again, with costs being less of a prohibitive factor after Sport Singapore takes over the venue.
"But next year, we will try something new. It will be a fresh venue, and we will have fresh ideas, fresh performances," added Chan on Tuesday.
He also invited those at the event to contribute ideas on how to make SG61 at the Sports Hub a "special and meaningful experience" for everyone, pointing out that a venue away from the Padang can allow "different aspects" of the parades, ceremonies and performances to be brought out.
Chan also called on the younger generation to look forward to being a part of NDP in 2065, when Singapore celebrates SG100.
"I am quite sure you will do something even more spectacular for our nation in time to come.
"This is the spirit that we hope we can pass on from generation to generation - the NDP spirit, the Singapore spirit," he said.
[[nid:721158]]
editor@asiaone.com
