SINGAPORE — The National Day Rally — a closely-watched annual affair where key challenges and policy directions for Singapore are set out — will be delivered in a new venue this year.

Instead of the University Cultural Centre (UCC) at National University of Singapore, where the address has been delivered since 2001, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be speaking at the ITE Headquarters and College Central in Ang Mo Kio on Aug 18.

Commenting on the move on his Facebook page, Mr Lee said: “This beautiful new campus reflects Singapore’s commitment, and my longstanding priority, to invest in our young, and nurture every Singaporean to their full potential.”

The first National Day Rally was delivered by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1966 at the former National Theatre. The rallies — which then also included a 10-course dinner — were held there until 1982, when the building was deemed structurally unsound. It was closed in 1984 and demolished in 1986.

The rallies were held at the Singapore Conference hall for three years, before Kallang Theatre was selected as a venue in 1986. In 2001, then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong selected the 1,700-seat UCC as the new venue, a year after it was completed.

The ITE campus officially opens in November. Its IlluminITE Auditorium seats about 1,400.