Category Archives: General

‘City of Waterways’ is taking shape

Posted on 21 Mar 2010 | Comments Off on ‘City of Waterways’ is taking shape

It looks like Singapore the Garden City is on target to become a City of Waterways too.

With World Water Day falling tomorrow, PUB, the national water agency, is confident that its masterplan targets will be met.

The banks of the country’s 32 rivers and 7,000km of canals and drains are being transformed, as are its 15 reservoirs which will teem with water activities.

A key element of PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) programme is the people factor: projects will involve residents so that they have ownership too.

The masterplan identified more than 100 locations where projects will be implemented in phases till 2030.

The PUB first identifies a waterway or reservoir for transformation by looking at such factors as demographics, surrounding facilities and upcoming developments.

It then sees how the ABC Waters project can complement the surroundings and add value to the area.

Grassroots groups, schools and residents are involved: Feedback, ideas and views are gathered from them. After all, they will participate in and organise activities around the completed projects.

Mr Yew Kai Lih, 54, senior constituency manager in the Kolam Ayer constituency office, says: ‘Our waterway is now our trademark.’

Residents along the Kallang River/Kolam Ayer area now enjoy landscaped river banks and a floating deck.

Upgrading work to the waterways of Kolam Ayer, MacRitchie and Bedok have so far cost $23 million.

Mr Yew believes that the property prices in his constituency have gone up as the waterway now provides waterfront living amenities.

He feels that there is now a sense of ownership of the waterway. The constituency club organises activities such as gardening and performances on the floating deck.

Among the projects that are expected to be completed this year are: Sungei Punggol, Lower Seletar Reservoir, Pandan Reservoir and Jurong Lake. So too will Sungei Whampoa (St George’s Lane), Sungei Kallang/Whampoa RC31, Kranji Reservoir, Pang Sua Diversion Canal and Alexandra Canal.

Kallang River-Bishan Park and the Serangoon Reservoir – Lorong Halus waterway will be completed next year.

A problem that currently plagues canals here is pollution, but ‘pollution of the waterways has decreased over the years’, said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, director, Catchment and Waterways, PUB.

Last year, an average of 14 tonnes of flotsam was collected daily from the waterways. This is a reduction from the daily average of 15 tonnes collected in 2008, despite a steady increase in Singapore’s population.

Mr Eugene Heng, 60, chairman of the Waterways Watch Society, sees these changes to the waterways as a positive thing.

The society is a volunteer group that monitors, restores and protects the aesthetics of the waterways.

Mr Heng feels that ‘allowing more water activities in select areas is something that the society believes will help the public enjoy and, at the same time, appreciate, understand and value our waters’.

Source : Sunday Times – 21 Mar 2010

Comments Off on ‘City of Waterways’ is taking shape

Posted in General

Tagged , , , , ,

Waterfront living? This is it

Posted on 21 Mar 2010 | Comments Off on Waterfront living? This is it

The Crivellis call the Melivia (above) home. Built in China and delivered here, it has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a terrace , a kitchen and a laundry room, all within about 2,500 sq ft of living space. — PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ROBERT CRIVELLI

Some return to home and hearth. Mr Robert Crivelli returns to his home and berth.

His family of four lives on the Melivia, a 21m-long houseboat berthed at ONE?15 Marina Club.

Mr Crivelli, 44, senior director at a private bank, was inspired by friends who lived on boats in Hong Kong’s Discovery Bay.

The Swiss was hooked after going to a boat show at ONE?15 Marina Club in 2007.

The family was then living in a $7,500-a-month rented house in Bukit Timah.

His wife, Rakia, 44, and two children Bruno, 15, and Dounia, 11, like their new lifestyle too.

The houseboat has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, a terrace, a kitchen and a laundry room. It has about 2,500 sq ft of living space.

Melivia cost less than $1.5 million and took six months to build in Zhuhai, China, before being delivered to Singapore in early 2008. The family moved in soon after.

‘Some friends could not imagine life on a boat. But after visiting us, they agree it doesn’t move and you don’t really feel like you are on water,’ Mr Crivelli said.

A Sunday Times check with marinas and clubs found that at least a dozen expatriates – mostly from the United States, Germany, Britain and Australia – live on boats here. Some do so with family members.

Software architect Kris Beevers, 29, came to Singapore in September 2008. The New Yorker decided he would move onto a boat after six months of living on land.

His housing agent laughed and told him ‘it was impossible and too expensive’, he said.

Mr Beevers had always wanted to live on a boat but the cold weather in New York was a problem.

Last month, the bachelor finally found a second-hand 12m sloop in Phuket, Thailand which he bought for US$60,000 (S$84,000).

‘There aren’t many affordable boats for sale in Singapore. It’s a bit laborious to fly out to see boats but the difficulties are surmountable.’

His boat, Oia, will arrive here at the end of the month. It will berth at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club.

Mr Beevers’ decision to live on a boat took into account the property prices in Singapore.

‘At $700,000, a two-bedroom apartment here is the cost of a mansion in many other places,’ he said, adding that living on a boat is generally cheaper, with owners paying about $2,000 a month for berthing and utilities.

‘Buying a boat and living on it is cheaper than paying rent for the same period. And after that, it just gets cheaper and cheaper,’ he said.

There is a bonus too.

‘When I need a break, I can sail my home off to a secluded island and relax for a few days,’ he said.

Source : Sunday Times – 21 Mar 2010

Comments Off on Waterfront living? This is it

Posted in General

Tagged ,