Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 8 Nov 14;
SINGAPORE: A new community learning campus will be built at the former Bottle Tree Park in Khatib. The remaining land at the park has been leased out to an operator that plans to have a recreation centre at the site.
The campus is expected to cost S$6 million. Named the Kampung Kampus, it is an initiative by non-profit organisation Ground-Up Initiative (GUI).
Spanning 26,000 square metres, or 4.2 football fields, the campus will nurture leaders through craftsmanship, urban farming, design thinking, heritage and the arts. It will also help build communities that are more gracious and green.
Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, who is also MP for Nee Soon GRC, was present at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new campus.
"It's a very good initiative. And we were impressed because of the amount of energy and enthusiasm that young people show for this,” said Mr Shanmugam. “Beyond looking at things from a commercial perspective, it brings people very much in touch with something that they yearn for in an urban environment like Singapore - nature, doing things with your hands, the spirit of self-reliance."
Mr Shanmugam also weighed in on the incident involving Mobile Air - a shop at Sim Lim Square that allegedly scammed a tourist. Mr Shanmugam said there are laws that can deal with that kind of conduct.
He said the Attorney-General's Chambers are working with the police on the issue.
He was asked if there could be changes to the law as Sim Lim Square's Management Committee has said it is unable to deal with errant retailers, as current laws do not empower them to reject unethical tenants. In response, Mr Shamugam said the matter needs careful study.
"Whether we should go further and broadly look at laws between landlords and tenants, we need to be careful and study it properly,” he said. “There are hundreds and thousands of tenants in Singapore. And if it becomes easier for landlords to move them out on a variety of grounds, that could have substantial implications.”
- CNA/xq
Eco-friendly site to take root in Khatib
David Ee The Straits Times AsiaOne 11 Nov 14;
A non-profit group that has drawn thousands of volunteers with its philosophy of living in harmony with the earth and people, now has a larger space to do even more.
Ground-Up Initiative (GUI) has secured 26,000 sq m of land at the former Bottle Tree Park in Khatib for what it calls a "Kampung Kampus", to nurture leaders through urban farming, craftsmanship, arts and heritage, and to build a kampung spirit.
When it is ready in about two years' time, the eco-friendly site will include organic farming plots, camping grounds, an amphitheatre, a heritage centre and a prototyping zone for people to design useful technologies such as solar lamps.
The project is expected to cost GUI $6 million, which it hopes to raise from government grants and by offering its popular educational programmes to schools and corporations.
The group has 12 full-time staff and has attracted 35,000 volunteers since 2008 to help with farming, composting, carpentry workshops and making organic food, among other activities.
It had earlier looked as if GUI would have to move from its rent-free base in the former Bottle Tree Park, after the lease secured by the supportive former management expired this year.
But the group has been thrown a lifeline: Chong Pang Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCC) is leasing the land from the Government for community use for six years, and is subletting it to GUI at a "very soft rental", said Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam, an MP for Nee Soon GRC, at the site's ground-breaking ceremony yesterday.
GUI founder Tay Lai Hock told reporters that the group is paying a monthly rent of "close to five figures".
Mr Shanmugam said that to help keep the rental low, Chong Pang CCC offered to become the tenant on the basis that the area would be used for community projects.
He said that while letting the non-profit group use the site would mean less income is earned, and there were competing uses for the land, "you can't put a money value" on how GUI's work benefits people.
"We were impressed because of the amount of energy and enthusiasm that young people show for this," Mr Shanmugam said.
"Beyond looking at things from a commercial perspective, it brings people very much in touch with something that they yearn for in an urban environment like Singapore - nature, doing things with your hands, a spirit of self-reliance."
Mr Tay said: "In the past six years, I have seen so many families and young people come up to me to thank me for building a space like this. It provides a breathing space and safe place for many to experience their sense of purpose and empathy for Singapore, the earth and humanity. It makes us feel like human beings again."
The former Bottle Tree Park had restaurants and a fishing pond, with tenants paying monthly rents of about $15,000.
The remaining land there will be leased by China-based Fullshare Group, which secured the lease in July with a tender bid of $169,000 a month. The company, which invests in health care and international trade businesses in Singapore, is expected to turn the area into a leisure park attraction, with restaurants and activities such as camping and fishing.
