Pasir Ris residents to enjoy waterfront experience

SINGAPORE — Come 2015, Pasir Ris residents will have an enhanced waterfront right at their doorstep when Sungei Api Api and Sungei Tampines undergo a makeover.

As part of PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme, Sungei Api Api, located between Tampines Expressway and Pasir Ris Drive 3, will see its existing mangroves preserved, while additional plants and creepers along the canal walls will enhance the greenery.

Cleansing biotopes and rain gardens will be incorporated to cleanse stormwater run-off before it is discharged into the waterway. Educational signage to inform visitors about the flora and fauna that can be found along mangroves will also be installed along the waterway.

In addition, residents can look forward to more communal spaces, including shelters and seats in this area.

At Sungei Tampines, residents will see additional greenery along the river banks and new footpaths that take the community nearer to the river banks.

New seats and shelters will be installed and existing ones refurbished.

Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB’s Director of Catchment and Waterways, said: “ABC Waters at Sungei Api Api and Sungei Tampines will enhance the natural mangrove environment that residents have grown to love, while creating a transformed urban waterfront experience for city dwellers, nature lovers and residents alike. By introducing more seating and shelters, we aim to improve the riverside experience for the users, who will at the same time enjoy cleaner water in these two rivers.”

The ABC Waters Programme was launched in 2006 to transform canals and reservoirs into recreational spots.

Three more projects will be completed this year at Sungei Pandan, Sungei Ulu Pandan and Geylang River, while new projects will be started this year at the Kallang River (next to St Andrews School) and Siglap Canal.

Between next year and 2017, other new projects will commence at Kallang Riverside and Jurong Lake.