SPORTS HUB

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SPORTS HUB: 9.

Mr Zainudin Nordin asked the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, with the impending demolition and redevelopment of the Kallang Stadium into a new and modern sports hub (a) how will it impact local sporting events, infrastructure needs of the National Sports Associations, regional and international tournaments; and (b) whether his Ministry will consider implementing intermediate level infrastructure or make significant improvements to existing infrastructure to fulfil the inevitable vacuum that will be created due to this big and long-term redevelopment project.

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10.

Mr Ng Ser Miang asked the Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, now that the Sports Hub will be constructed under the Public Private Partnership Scheme and be operated by private company, how will this affect the completion date of the Hub, the design, the type of facilities to be included, the affordability to Singaporeans who wish to use the sports facilities and the rental rate to National Sports Associations and organisations who wish to stage sports events at the Hub.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to take Question Nos. 9 and 10 together as they are related?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, MCYS is in the process of structuring a Public Private Partnership (PPP) tender for the Sports Hub.We are adopting a PPP approach so as to tap on ideas from the private sector on how to design, construct and operate a landmark sporting infrastructure in a most cost-efficient manner.

We have appointed a financial and legal advisor to assist us in drawing up the tender specifications. We will request for tenderers next year and hope to appoint a PPP provider who will help to design, construct and operate the Sports Hub by 2006. The construction of the Sports Hub is expected to start in 2007 and, hopefully, willbe completed by 2010, which is the target completion date that we had initially set for the project. During this period, the existing National Stadium at Kallang will have to be demolished in order to make way for the new stadium.

We do not expect the National Sports Associations and the training of national

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teams to be adversely affected during the construction of the Sports Hub, as none of them currently use the National Stadium for their daily training.We have many local and international events on our sporting calendar today, but not all of them make use of the National Stadium. These events will have to be held at alternative venues, such as the regional stadiums or the Padang during the transition.The biggest of these alternative venues is the Jalan Besar Stadium with 6,000 seats. In addition, the Chua Chu Kang Stadium can hold crowds of 4,000 currently, with up to 9,000 with additional temporary stands. For events that require even more capacity, the Padang can be used as an alternative venue.There are no plans to build a temporary stadium just for the transition period of three years, as this will clearly not becost effective.

The PPP approach will not compromise

the type or thedesign of the facilities for the Sports Hub. MCYS and the Singapore Sports Council will specify the types of facilities that should be provided, and set basic design parameters which theprovider will have to adhere to. We will aim for a design that befits a national sporting facility, but yet, it iscost-effective and operationally efficient.

The Singapore Sports Council will also specify certain service outcomes for the project, which will include a certain number of days which the sports facilities would be available for Government and community use. The Sports Council will also determine the appropriate rental pricing policy, and we will ensure thatfacilities remain affordable.

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, I would just like to ask the Minister if there is any plan for the Jurong Stadium that is in existence. My second question is that the new Sports Hub will have a new stadium which is about thesame size as the

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present Kallang Stadium. With the present sportsactivities that are happening in Singapore, does he feel that there is a need for an intermediate-sized stadium in Singapore?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: The Jurong Sports Stadium is still available during this period. The Member's second question waswhether we should build intermediate-sized facilities. At this point in time, the plan for the Sports Hub would be to have a stadium which would have a seating capacity for about 55,000 spectators. This is actually slightly smaller than the current National Stadium because we have found that the current National Stadium has hardly any event which necessitates 65,000 seats. We will study this issue about whether we need an intermediate-sized stadium, but my initial reaction would be that it is not necessary at this point in time. Each stadium is a significant capital investment and we would rather make sure that we have a sporting calendar which is full and maximally utilises all the facilities available at the regional level before contemplating even more intermediate-sized stadiums, as he has suggested. Nevertheless, it is something which we will certainly bear in mind.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied): Sir, most of these sports facilities are not beingusedintensively to be commercially viable. Can the Minister explain how he can ensure that the rates of these facilities can be made affordable to an average Singaporean?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Sir, the utilisation of sports facilities is not simply due to the rental rates which are charged. To a large extent, the first pre-requisite is that we create a sporting culture where people will participate in sports on their own free will and decide to use the time

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they have available to pursue these activities. So over the next few years, MCYS will certainly focus on promoting a sporting culture.

Having said that, the next issue then is facilities. One of the priorities in the immediate short-term would be to look for ways in which we will work with MOE to open up facilities in schools, including school fields, running tracks, etc, to the local community. If we can work on both promoting sports as a way of life and creating accessible facilities in the neighbourhood, I think we will get a much more vibrant sports scene.

The question of rental rates is also one that is linked to the issue of utilisation because clearly, the more intensively facilities are used, the lower the unit cost and lowerunit costwill alsoenable us to provide more facilities at an affordable rate.

The point I want to make is thatthe starting point will be to promote sports as a way of life. Secondly, to ensure that the facilities are convenient and accessible. And thirdly, run it as cost-efficiently as possible so that the rental rates will be kept at an affordable level, ie, affordable to the people who participate in sports as well as affordable to the Government.

Mr Zainudin Nordin: Sir, the size of the new stadium will havea seating capacity of 55,000 and the few stadiums that the Minister has mentioned earlier are very much smaller with a seating capacity of 3,000-4,000.Would the Ministry considerputting some resources to improve the present infrastructure of our neighbourhood and regional stadiums so that at least we bringthem up to a certain reasonable size? Secondly, the gap between the 55,000and 4,000 seating capacity is toowide and I still believe that it is worthwhile to consider an intermediate-sized stadium forthe future.

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Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I thank the Member for his suggestion. We will certainly look at the infrastructure in the current stadiums to see whether some improvements can be made and whetherindeedsome expansion in the spectator stands. I will still have to take his suggestion on an intermediate-sized stadium on a reserve basis and look at the issue. I will not be able to committo it at this point in time. I am sure he will understand that.

Mdm Cynthia Phua: Sir,I just wanted the Minister to clarify this point. I am mentioning about the PPP in the Sports Hub itself so as to makesure that the rates are affordable toan average Singaporean. I am heartened to note that the Ministry is working together with MOE to make available more sporting facilities for our residents.I ammentioningthe Hub itself, because of the PPP, and I am concerned about the affordability of itsuse.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: The Sports Council will determine the rental pricingpolicy, andthe key determinant there obviously is the question of affordability. So the Ministry will work to ensure that the facilities are affordable. But having said that, we also have to bear in mind that regardless of whether it is being run as a PPP or run as a direct facility of the Sports Council, at the end of the day, someone still has to pay for it. And it is a question of how much the user will payversus how much he wants taxpayers to pay. Our prime focus should be on getting the overall costs down and we can do that best by running things cost-efficiently. In the case of this PPP project, we are hoping that with private sector involvement, they will have an even better handle on cost control.