KALLANG THEATRE AND VICTORIA THEATRE (Upgrading of facilities)

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for Information and the Arts, in view of the fact that the Singapore Arts Centre is only due for completion in 1999, whether there are any interim plans to upgrade the facilities of Kallang Theatre and Victoria Theatre.

The Minister of State for Information and the Arts (Dr Ker Sin Tze) (for the Minister for Information and the Arts): Mr Speaker, Sir, the National Arts Council has an on-going plan for the maintenance and upgrading of Victoria Theatre and Kallang Theatre.

In July and August this year, the sound and lighting facilities at Victoria Theatre were upgraded at a cost of $840,000. The Arts Council has further plans to renovate and upgrade the main bar, reception room, dressing rooms and the interior furnishings of the theatre foyer in the next cyclical maintenance exercise for Victoria Theatre in fiscal year 1995. A major retrofit will be carried out after the opening of the Singapore Arts Centre in 1999, when we can afford to have Victoria Theatre closed for a longer period. We will take the opportunity to improve the theatre's acoustics, stage flooring, orchestra pit, lighting system, seating arrangement, and air-conditioning.

Kallang Theatre was closed for five months in 1992 for cyclical maintenance and upgrading costing $3 million. This included a major upgrading of the toilets, recarpeting the auditorium, rewiring and repainting. In the next cyclical maintenance exercise for Kallang Theatre in fiscal year 1997, the Arts Council will improve the acoustics, sound and lighting systems, create new dressing rooms, upgrade mechanical and electrical equipment, and carry out roofing works and general improvements to the auditorium.