KALLANG BASIN (Social and recreational amenities)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim asked the Minister for Finance whether he will request the Jurong Town Corporation to work out plans with the People's Association and the Housing and Development Board to provide social and recreational amenities in Kallang Basin.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim asked the Minister for Defence whether the People's Association will (i) provide another community centre in the Kallang Constituency; and (ii) jointly work out plans with the Housing and Development Board and the Jurong Town Corporation to provide better social and recreational amenities to the people residing and/or working at Kallang Basin.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim asked the Minister for Law and National Development (a) whether he realises that the Housing and Development Board hardly provides any social and recreational amenities to the tenants in Kallang Basin; and (b) if he will request the Board to work out plans with the People's Association and the Jurong Town Corporation to provide social and recreational amenities in Kallang Basin.

Mr Speaker: Question No. 1 - there is a related question directed to the Minister for Defence in Question No. 2. I understand that the Hon. Minister for Defence, in answer to Question No. 2, will also answer Question No. 1. Inche Abdul Aziz Karim, Question No. 2, please.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim (Kallang): Yes, Sir. Question No. 2.

The Minister for Defence (Mr Lim Kim San): Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. As you have indicated, Sir, in replying to this Question from the Member for Kallang, I will also be replying on behalf of my colleagues, the Minister for Law and National Development and the Minister for Finance, as all three Questions asked by the Member for Kallang are similar in theme.

Mr Speaker, Sir, there is in the Development Estimates a provision for six rural type community centres calculated at $10,000 each. This is a balance from the bulk provision for 10 rural type community centres and three standard type community centres under the Five-Year Development Plan 1966-70. As every constituency now has at least one community centre, the balance of available funds will be used only for new community centres in the resettlement areas.

Social and recreational amenities are being provided and will be provided by the People's Association in consultation with the Housing and Development Board and the Jurong Town Corporation for the people residing in and working at Kallang Basin. I am told, Sir, that the Housing and Development Board has provided a limited range of social and recreational amenities for its tenants in all the housing estates, and Kallang Basin is no exception. In conjunction with the People's Association, the Housing and Development Board has provided a community centre with outdoor and indoor recreational amenities in Neighbourhood I, bounded by Serangoon Road, Bendemeer Road and Boon Keng Road.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Does the Minister consider a ground floor unit adequate to serve the needs of a population of thousands in Kallang?

Mr Lim Kim San: I am sure my colleague, the Minister for National Development, will sympathetically consider the request, if it is made to him, for the use of a ground floor unit for recreational activities. But I understand that there is a four-acre ground which the Housing and Development Board has marked out in Kallang Basin for the provision of a park and other recreational amenities for the residents.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker, Sir, does the Minister think that the People's Association, the Housing and Development Board and the Jurong Town Corporation have in the past engaged in imaginative forward plan-fling to provide social and recreational amenities, particularly in Kallang Basin, where the population is growing day by day?

Mr Lim Kim San: Can the Member repeat the first part of his supplementary question?

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Does the Minister think that the People's Association, of which he is in charge, the Housing and Development Board and the Jurong Town Corporation have in the past engaged in imaginative forward planning to provide social and recreational amenities, particularly in Kallang Basin where the population, the working population included, is growing day by day?

Mr Lim Kim San: Mr Speaker, Sir, we could not have provided the residents of Kallang with what the Member for Kallang described as imaginative planning, because Kallang Basin is just being populated. However, I do not think it is beyond the ingenuity of the People's Association, the Jurong Town Corporation and the Housing and Development Board to provide imaginative planning for recreational amenities for the residents in Kallang.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker, Sir, does the Minister agree with the statement made by the new Director of the People's Association that one of the ways to improve the standard of living of the poorer people is to provide adequate social and recreational facilities in the form of community centres?

Mr Lim Kim San: Sir, I agree entirely with that statement and we are doing our very best to provide adequate facilities. Here again, I must say that in many instances where adequate facilities are provided, they are not being fully made use of. And in many instances also, we have to close down community centres because they have not been made use of. But where there is a need, we will always try to meet it. If the Member for Kallang can mark out any area where he thinks a community centre will be useful, we will consider it sympathetically.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker, Sir, if the Minister will consider providing an additional community centre or two medium-sized ones in the Kallang Basin Industrial Housing Estates, that will be agreeable.

Mr Lim Kim San: Sir, as I have already said, there is a community centre nearby. We would like to set up a community centre every 100 yards if we can, but, firstly, that is beyond our means, and, secondly, I do not think we have sufficient land to do this. Anyway, there is a four-acre ground which can be fully exploited to give the residents of Kallang Basin all the amenities that they require for sports, for airing themselves, or their birds if they keep birds, and for a better standard of living.

Inche Abdul Aziz Karim: Mr Speaker, Sir, the present community centre is just like the "Black Hole of Calcutta"! Will the Minister agree to rectify the situation?

Mr Lim Kim San: We will rectify the situation as best we can.

Mr Speaker: The Minister for Defence has already answered Question No. 3 in his reply to Questions Nos. 1 and 2.