Sunday Times Letter 26 Jul 09;
I refer to the letter from Ms Angela V. Banerjee, 'Spare Yishun's natural beauty' (July5).
Yishun is the first middle-aged town to enjoy the Remaking Our Heartland (ROH) plans. The ROH vision for Yishun is 'vibrant hub and great outdoors'.
One of the key thrusts is to strengthen the town's identity and further build residents' pride in calling Yishun home.
Since 2007, the town centre has been transformed with an extended Northpoint Shopping Centre offering a wider retail mix and a new public library.
In line with the great outdoors vision, residents can soon enjoy water-based activities with the building of a new Family Bay and Rowers' Bay at Lower Seletar Reservoir, to tap on the natural beauty in the area.
Yishun residents can also look forward to a new cycling track along Yishun Ring Road that will be connected to all residential neighbourhoods and centres.
The new lookout tower at Yishun Pond will serve as an iconic landmark for Yishun. Designed to be barrier-free, the tower will be easily accessible to all, and is linked seamlessly via a bridge to the existing Yishun Park across the road.
Care will be taken to ensure that the tower will not affect the ventilation and view of the nearby buildings.
In carrying out the various ROH plans, we are mindful of the need to preserve the area's natural beauty, while making it accessible for more residents to enjoy.
Some examples include a Flower Trail in the setting of a Butterfly Garden, and a Native Forest with indigenous trees to enhance the bio-diversity of the woodlands.
By next year, residents can look forward to a transformed Yishun Pond with lush natural greenery and ecologically friendly features.
We thank the writer for her feedback. We also welcome further feedback and ideas, and residents can contact us via our ROH website: heartland.hdb.gov.sg/contact.html
Larry Cheng
Deputy Director (Project Development and Management)
Housing & Development Board
