SINGAPORE: The People's Association (PA) has been re-inventing itself to appeal to professionals and soon-to-be retirees.

Among the big plans is one to build a multi-million dollar sea sports centre and recreational hub in the Marina Bay area.

The association is trying to ride the wave of interest in niche activities like water sports.

It hopes that by offering such activities, working adults and professionals, which is an under-represented group, will be drawn to join the association.

The Marina Bay area is going to feature as part of PA's plans to attract more working adults and professionals by bringing activities directly to where they are.

They plan to build a new sea sports centre, which will also incorporate adventure activities like rock climbing.

A few sites have already been earmarked for this purpose and a decision is expected to be made by the end of 2007.

The centre, which will cost anything between S$4 and S$5 million, is expected to be ready in two years.

PA is also targeting the seniors.

"With Singapore's ageing population and better educated and more affluent 'emerging' seniors, the CCs and RCs would have to stay ahead of the trend line to cater to their tastes and level of sophistication which are different from those of seniors today.

"These soon-to-be seniors in the next 5 to 10 years, such as the post-war baby boomers who will be retiring in the next few years, may not be as contented with routine activities like karaoke, qiqong and line dancing.

"We need to adopt a different approach, offer a wide range of activities by facilitating sports and recreational activities for seniors, taking into account their diverse backgrounds," said Lim Boon Heng, Deputy Chairman, PA.

The association is also customising the way it manages its grassroots volunteers so that they contribute only within their areas of interest or expertise, instead of being made to do everything.

But all this customisation comes at a cost.

And so, Mr Lim, as the new deputy chairman of PA, suggested clustering of Community Centres.

He said: "Instead of all CCs offering similar facilities and courses, there is scope for us to plan facilities and courses at the CC on a cluster basis, for example, on a GRC basis."

The Internet is also going to feature big in PA's efforts to find out people's preferences in order to tailor-make courses and activities.

A new IT system to do this will be launched in April. – CNA/so