GUIDELINES FOR SETTING UP COMMUNITY CLUBS

Mr Sin Boon Ann asked the Minister for Community Development what are the present guidelines relating to the setting up of community clubs and whether the Government will be flexible in following the guidelines when considering requests for community clubs from constituencies which do not strictly qualify within the guidelines.

Mr Wong Kan Seng: Since 1983, the People's Association has adopted the population catchment approach for building community clubs (CCs). Under the current norm, a CC is built in the centre of a population catchment serving about 15,000 dwelling units regardless of the constituency boundary. Each CC must be at least 1 km away from another CC. Hence, not every constituency or division will have a modern CC. A void-deck CC will be provided for a constituency or division without a modern CC. These guidelines will be closely observed.

As a small country, we have to adopt special measures such as the population catchment approach for building CCs to maximise the use of our limited land, manpower and other resources. It ensures that the CCs are well utilised.