Developing Singapore’s cultural infrastructure

SINGAPORE — The Government today (May 21) released details expanding on the “liveable city” aspect of President Tony Tan Keng Yam’s address in Parliament last Friday.

In an addenda statement to the President’s address, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth pledged to give artists and arts groups more support.

It will also make performing arts spaces more readily available, and help artists showcase their works on the international stage.

New cultural infrastructure will be built, including the Indian Heritage Centre and the National Gallery for modern and historical visual art.

The National Museum of Singapore and the Asian Civilisations Museum will be enhanced, while the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and the Esplanade will be refurbished.

The ministry also plans to build an island-wide network of community arts and culture nodes, community museums and galleries, as well as heritage trails.

Singaporeans can also look forward to more sporting facilities and programmes. “Sports facilities will be available within a 10-minute walk of most homes,” the ministry said.

As part of efforts to make Singapore a smart nation, the Ministry of Communications and Information will develop a new Infocomm Media Masterplan.

Preliminary ideas include setting up a heterogeneous network that builds on the nationwide sensor network.

The ministry will also develop a new masterplan for the National Library Board and National Archives, with a strong focus on facilitating Singapore content creation.

There will be a physical and digital collection of all Singapore content, through acquisitions and connections to other institutions.

The ministry said in the statement that it will continue to seek ideas from the community and support ground-up efforts to build a “liveable city and endearing home”.

The ultimate aim is to “strengthen community harmony, and enhance our sense of identity and belonging to Singapore”, it said. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

Here is the addenda in full:

ADDENDA TO PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS: LIVEABLE CITY, ENDEARING HOME

Singapore is our Home. It is where we share our lives with our families and friends, and realise our aspirations. We will build a liveable city and an endearing home for all Singaporeans.

One key priority is to continue to upgrade and transform our public housing estates. Through the Home Improvement Programme (HIP), we will refresh older HDB estates, covering 100,000 flats within the next three years. We will help couples and their parents live together, or close by, so that they can care for each other and render mutual support. We will facilitate ageing-in-place by making HDB homes and estates elder-friendly, and enhance them with more amenities.

Singaporeans can also look forward to more parks, waterways, cultural and sports facilities. We will expand the park connector network and build the Round-Island Route, a 150 km continuous recreational corridor connecting Singaporeans to parks and places of interest across the island. Our aim is for nearly all Singaporeans to live within 400 metres of a park; to be within a 10-minute walk of a sports and recreational facility; and to have convenient access to an island-wide network of arts and culture nodes and heritage trails.

To keep our city liveable, we will invest heavily to increase the capacity of our public transport system and significantly raise service standards. In the next three years, new lines and extensions will expand our rail network by 25%. We will upgrade the signalling system for our oldest lines to run at shorter intervals and add 83 more trains to cut waiting time. We will restructure the public bus industry by transiting to a contracting model where the government plans bus service routes and owns key assets such as bus depots and buses, while companies bid for the right to operate the routes. This will benefit commuters, who can look forward to better and more responsive bus services.

At the same time, we will develop a greater variety of sustainable transport options. We will build over 200 km of sheltered walkways, and a comprehensive island-wide cycling path network totalling over 700 km. We will also encourage alternatives to car ownership, such as car-sharing schemes, to cater to those who need to use a car from time to time, and make this a city where owning a car is not a necessity.

We will take full advantage of new technologies, especially sensors like video cameras, fibre and wireless networks, robotics technology like driverless vehicles, and ordinary citizens with smart phones, to make Singapore a Smart Nation – one with greener and more pleasant urban living, more effective public services and more opportunities for citizen engagement.

Ultimately, we need all Singaporeans to contribute to our shared goal of a liveable city and endearing home. The government will continue to seek ideas from the community and support ground-up efforts, which help strengthen community harmony, and enhance our sense of identity and belonging to Singapore. The details of specific initiatives by MCI, MCCY, MinLaw, MND, MEWR, MOT and PMO (NCCS, NPTD) are highlighted in the Annex.

ANNEX

MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION

• Develop a new Infocomm Media Masterplan to make Singapore a Smart Nation that leads the world in tapping the potential of infocomm and media and that nurtures innovative talent and enterprises. Preliminary Masterplan ideas include a Heterogeneous Network that builds on the nationwide sensor network.

• Develop a new masterplan for the National Library Board and National Archives with a strong focus on facilitating Singapore content creation.

• Develop a physical and digital collection of all content about Singapore, through acquisitions and connections to other institutions.

• Partner with the community so that “citizen archivists” can contribute in the transcription and documentation of our collections.

• Expand partnership with researchers and media producers to use the collections and archives as a resource.

MINISTRY OF CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND YOUTH

• Boost support for artists and arts groups, making performing arts spaces more accessible and opening doors for our artists to showcase their works on the international stage.

• Develop and enhance our cultural infrastructure.

• New National Gallery for modern and historical visual art.

• New Indian Heritage Centre in Little India.

• Enhance the National Museum of Singapore and the Asian Civilisations Museum.

• Refurbish Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and the Esplanade.

• Establish a Public Art Trust to fill our public spaces with works of art.

• Form an island-wide network of community arts and culture nodes, community museums and galleries, as well as heritage trails.

• Build a new network of modern sports facilities under the Sports Facilities Master Plan. Sports facilities will be available within a 10-minute walk of most homes.

• Offer more sporting programmes in the community through ActiveSG.

• Continue to support Singaporeans with the ability and potential to excel in sport and do Singapore proud.

MINISTRY OF LAW

• Optimise the potential of state land and state properties to help meet Singapore’s social and economic objectives. Clusters of properties will be thematically developed to meet under-served sectors of the economy. Greater flexibility on tenure will be introduced as well to support innovative uses.

• Review our legislative framework to facilitate the development of underground space and improve the land acquisition process to minimise the impact on affected land owners.

• SLA will lead a Government effort to develop a high-resolution three-dimensional national topographic map to enhance urban planning, flood control, civil aviation control and other uses.

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Step up Home Improvement Programme (HIP) to cover another one-third, or 100,000 flats, within the next three years.

• Help couples and their parents live together, or close by, so that they can care for each other and render mutual support.

• Facilitate ageing-in-place by making HDB homes and estates age-friendly, and enhance them with more amenities.

• Promote good HDB living and inject vibrancy and foster greater cohesiveness in existing HDB towns under the Remaking Our Heartland initiative.

• Provide and integrate spaces such as parks, sports and recreational facilities for social and community needs, and engage residents in energising these spaces.

• Support citizen-led initiatives that catalyse social interaction and bonding

• Conserve buildings and special places with historical and architectural significance as well as strong social memories

• Seek ideas from the community on how we can sensitively enhance the natural environment and biodiversity of Pulau Ubin

• Review the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint and leverage on technology to develop SMART HDB towns to meet the varied needs of a maturing society.

• Plan and design public housing estates with more greenery and access to parks.

• Make greenery more pervasive in urban areas and developments, such as the Rail Corridor, and new initiatives under the Landscape for Urban Spaces and High-rises (LUSH) programme.

• Build intra-town cycling paths across HDB towns, and new and upgraded cycling routes. Expand the park connector network and build the Round-Island Route.

• Develop technologies and plans to increase land capacity through more underground and mixed-use developments.

MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER RESOURCES

• Ensure the best living environment that provides Singaporeans a high quality of life.

• Facilitate adoption of green practices, such as through improving recycling infrastructure in housing developments.

• Uphold high standards of public cleanliness, food hygiene and sanitation by building a community that reaffirms positive social values and norms while deterring recalcitrant offenders through enhanced enforcement.

• Progressively tighten vehicle and industrial emission and fuel quality standards so that we can enjoy clean, fresh air.

• Create more social spaces for community bonding and to improve well-being by further expanding the ABC Waters Programme and building new hawker centres.

• Build infrastructure ahead of demand to support a growing economy, and to improve resilience to climate change

• The Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) Phase 2 and the Tuas Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF) will ensure that capacity keeps pace with our needs, and also exemplify our effort towards greater integration of upstream planning for more optimal use of scarce resources.

• Expand water and drainage infrastructure to prepare for extreme weather events.

• Developed frameworks for risk assessment and adaptation to climate change.

• Resolve to achieve a greener economy, and maintain balance and synergy between economic development and environmental sustainability

• Step up efforts to engage industry to improve resource efficiency and adopt best practices in energy, water, and waste management.

• Promote upstream waste segregation, and implement water-efficient solution for key industrial areas such as Jurong Island.

• Work with industry to reduce pollutive emissions.

• Grow green industries and jobs by investing in R&D and test-bedding.

• The public sector will walk the talk by taking the lead in more aspects of environmental sustainability.

• Focus on encouraging and inculcating positive social and environmental behaviour. Support more community-driven initiatives, and study ways to empower volunteers to champion our causes and take on stewardship of our water bodies.

• Complete the revised Sustainable Singapore Blueprint by the end of the year.

MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT

• Restructure the public bus industry.

• Adopt a contracting model for all public bus services, and tender out bus routes planned by the government, to be run by private bus operators. The government will own all key assets such as bus depots and buses to lower barriers to entry and inject greater contestability into the industry.

• Set service standards higher than today’s regulatory standards under the new bus model.

• Expand, upgrade and optimise our rail system to ease crowding.

• In the next three years, new lines and extensions will open, with the North-South Line extension in 2014, Tuas West extension in 2016, and the 42-kilometre Downtown Line fully opened in 2017. This will expand the rail network by some 25%.

• Complete major upgrades to tracks and trains, as well as upgrade signalling systems for oldest lines to run more trains at higher frequencies, and add 83 more trains to reduce waiting time and crowding.

• Enhance incentives to encourage commuters to travel during off-peak periods to optimise capacity in the transport system.

• Improve matching of taxi demand and supply. Ensure that more taxis are on the roads to meet commuter demand and facilitate better matching of taxi demand and supply, through providing better information to commuters and drivers, and harnessing technology.

• Develop greater variety of sustainable transport options.

• Build over 200 km of sheltered walkways starting this year.

• Comprehensive island-wide cycling path network totalling over 700km.

• More support for alternatives to owning a car, such as car-sharing.

• Ensure vehicle fleets are less pollutive. Partner industry to trial use of electric vehicles on a larger scale, and study possible adoption of diesel hybrid public buses.

PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE SECRETARIAT)

• Support global efforts to address climate change through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As part of this, we will work with relevant agencies under the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change(IMCCC) to:

• Take measures to meet Singapore’s unconditional pledge to reduce emissions to 7-11% below our business-as-usual (BAU) level by 2020.

• Reduce our emissions even further to 16% below our BAU level by 2020 if there is a global agreement on climate change.

• Develop a suite of measures to stabilise our emissions over the long term, to prepare for a new post-2020 global agreement.

• Enhance Singapore’s resilience to climate change in areas such as coastal protection, biodiversity and greenery, public health, water resources and drainage, and urban infrastructure and energy.

PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (NATIONAL POPULATION AND TALENT DIVISION)

• Continue to support Singaporeans’ aspirations to marry and have children, and work with community partners to provide more integrated support for Singaporeans in their marriage and parenthood journeys.

• Continue to coordinate and develop holistic and balanced policies across Government agencies for a sustainable population, as the number of older Singaporeans increases rapidly and as we slow foreign workforce growth.

• Continue to engage Singaporeans abroad, so that they stay connected to Singapore.

• Continue a calibrated approach to welcome new citizens who are committed to Singapore, are willing to contribute, and share our values, to prevent our citizen population from shrinking and improve its age balance.

• Continue to help new citizens to better integrate into our society, while broadening and deepening efforts to promote greater mutual understanding and acceptance between Singaporeans and foreigners.

• Remain open, build and tap on the global network of friends of Singapore, within and beyond our physical boundaries.