Sembawang to get hawker centre, swimming complex

New facilities such as a swimming complex and hawker centre will greet residents in Sembawang town in the next few years.

These much-wanted amenities will further transform Sembawang GRC, which People's Action Party chairman Khaw Boon Wan described as "a land of kampungs becoming a modern town".

Mr Khaw, the Minister for National Development who leads the five-member GRC team, announced these plans to cheers from about 60 residents who were having a dialogue with him and fellow GRC running mates yesterday.

The swimming complex will be part of a building cluster with a hawker centre, polyclinic, childcare and eldercare centres plus other community facilities. It will be located in Old Nelson Road and next to Admiralty MRT station.

The aim is to get the swimming pool and hawker centre ready by 2018, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, who is in charge of the project, told The Straits Times.

Public consultation on the project starts tomorrow and will last about six months, added Dr Lim, whose Canberra ward will be part of Sembawang GRC after the latest electoral boundaries review.

He said that the biggest challenge is preserving the famed greenery of Sembawang.

"We want to minimise chopping down trees, and preserve Old Admiralty House as a heritage building on top of Admiralty Hill," said Dr Lim.

Explaining the long wait for the project's launch, Mr Khaw said "sufficient critical mass" was needed first.

"In the last few years, we stepped up the new Build-To-Order flats in Sembawang town, with thousands of flats being built... It let us begin to plan for a swimming complex for Sembawang town."

Other upcoming facilities include an upgraded bus interchange in Woodlands town.

Residents of Sembawang GRC will also have the country's largest general hospital, with 1,800 beds, when the Woodlands General Hospital opens in phases from 2022.

This article was first published on Aug 15, 2015.
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