Phase 2 of Admiralty Park opens to public
SINGAPORE: Woodlands residents can look forward to a closer
experience with nature, with the opening of Phase Two of Admiralty Park
- a 20-hectare nature area.
Home to more than 100 species of animals and plants, the nature
area at the Admiralty Park is the biggest nature area within a park in
Singapore.
Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Minister for Health and Member of Parliament for
Sembawang GRC, officiated at the event on Saturday morning together
with fellow MPs Mr K. Shanmugam, Dr Lim Wee Kiak and Ms Ellen Lee.
At 27 hectares, Admiralty Park is the largest park in the Northwest
district to offer both recreational amenities and a mangrove swamp. It
has a hilly terrain, shaped like a river valley to reflect the history
of the site, which used to have a river (Sungei Cina) running through
it.
Phase One, comprising seven hectares of recreational space, was officially opened in October last year.
Construction works for Phase Two started in September 2007 and took about nine
months to complete. With Phase Two completed, the park now has three boardwalks and a 2-kilometre trail the public can explore.
The park is unique because of the variety of mangrove plants, such as
the Nipah Palm from which "attap chee", an ingredient found in local
desserts, can be harvested.
Mr Khaw, who joined nearly 1,200 residents on the morning trail,
said kids who have grown up in built-up housing estates can learn much
from the park.
He said: "For us, growing up in a kampong, we can relate to all
these, but the next generation growing up in HDB (flats), they may not
appreciate all these attap trees, seeds, lalang, birds, and mangrove
swamps."
The park will be a great asset for the residents living nearby, he added.
Just like the vegetation and natural elements have a symbiotic
relationship with each other, the park itself has a relationship with
its neighbours. In this case, it is the Republic Polytechnic.
The school is experimenting with using waste wood from the park to
lower the amount of electricity air-conditioners consume. The wood rot
helps a drying agent to absorb humidity from the environment, which
helps the cooling process.
Dr Wong Luh Cheng from the Republic Polytechnic's School of Applied
Science said: "We came across this de-gasification process in which we
can extract energy from the plant without creating smoke and other
pollutants and it's clean burning. We will take this heat, and we
dehumidify the air through a mechanism that we devised."
The park will also be a live classroom for the polytechnic
students. More than 30 Republic Polytechnic students and staff have
also been trained to give guided tours of the park.
- CNA/ir