Esther Ng Today Online 31 Jan 11;
SINGAPORE - Residents living at St George's Lane can now look forward to rain gardens and a canal with a more "natural" look from planters and three lookout decks dotting a 250-m stretch of Sungei Whampoa.
In this latest PUB Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters project, $2.2 million was spent on replacing upper parts of the concrete canal wall with natural rocks to courage plants to grow.
The canal now looks like a natural stream.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, who officiated at the launch of the project yesterday, said: "So, now when we look out from our windows, the landscaping is beautiful - very different from the hard concrete that it used to be."
Another special feature of the project is rain gardens - pockets of depression with vegetation - that help filter and slow down the pace of run-off from paved areas and car parks from entering the drains.
Plants in the rain garden act to filter sediment in the run-off, improving the quality of water entering Sungei Whampoa.
Said Dr Yaacob: "Our water bodies do ot just store water or drain water - they have become places for family and community bonding."
St George's Lane resident Shanti Raja, 42, agreed: "These improvements are not only beautiful, but also good for the environment. Whenever I look at the surroundings, it makes me happy."
In the meantime, schools in the area like Hong Wen School will use the rain gardens as part of their outdoor learning while students from Bendemeer Secondary School's science and environment club will patrol this stretch of the river weekly.
Bendemeer's principal Goh Mee Mee added the school plans to launch a science-related project with PUB but details are being worked out.
The ABC Waters programme launched in 2006 has seen 13 projects completed to date, more recently, at Lower Seletar and Pandan reservoirs.
Projects due for completion this year include the second phase of the MacRitchie Reservoir makeover, Alexandra Canal and the Kallang River at Bishan Park. ESTHER NG
St George's Lane canal gets a makeover
Poon Chian Hui Straits Times 31 Jan 11;
WHENEVER Madam Hajijah Mohd, 62, peered out of the windows of her flat, she would be greeted with the unsightly view of a longkang, or drain canal.
Not anymore.
That area along St George's Lane at Sungei Whampoa has now been transformed into a garden full of shrubs and flowers.
'It is very beautiful; there is a very nice atmosphere here now,' said Madam Hajijah, who works part-time at a kindergarten. The mother of two has lived in the neighbourhood all her life.
Residents like her are set to enjoy the new community area centred on a humble - but beautified - canal.
The facelift of a 250m-long stretch of waterway from the Central Expressway to St George's Lane took 16 months - from June 2009 to September last year - and $2.2 million to complete.
It is part of national water agency PUB's Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters programme, which aims to transform Singapore's reservoirs and waterways into clean and beautiful streams, rivers and lakes.
The St George's Lane project boasts features such as gabions and two 'rain gardens'.
Gabions are wire cages filled with rocks that line the sides of the canal. This allows creeper plants to grow and cover the grey concrete walls of the canal.
Rain gardens are areas beside the canal planted with five selected plants. These plants filter and purify rainwater absorbed into the soil. As a result, the water that enters the canal is cleaner.
Rainwater that flows from nearby carparks and built-up areas will also get channelled into the rain gardens.
Speaking at the official opening ceremony yesterday, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim urged the community to 'take over and own the project'. The MP for Jalan Besar GRC and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs was the guest of honour at the ceremony.
Grassroots leaders from Kolam Ayer St George West Residents' Committee and Whampoa McNair Residents' Committee are already looking into having morning exercises at the viewing deck and also patrolling the area to make sure it stays clean, he said.
Nearby schools are also offering their help to keep this new water feature in tip-top shape. Bendemeer Secondary School, for instance, will have students patrolling the area to pick up litter every week.
The ABC Waters programme, first launched in 2006, has already seen 13 projects completed so far. At least three more will be completed this year. They are the second phase of the MacRitchie Reservoir makeover, Alexandra Canal and Kallang River at Bishan Park.
Over 20 projects will be completed by next year under the first phase of the programme.
