8 national monuments to get S$2.22m in grants for facelifts
SINGAPORE — Eight national monuments will undergo a facelift this year, receiving S$2.22 million in grants to offset the cost of restoration works.
For the first time, a new category of funds will also be disbursed for regular maintenance works, such as termite inspections, investigations of building defects, removal of vegetation on monuments and minor repairs. About S$100,000 will be given to 20 national monuments for this purpose.
The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, which was gazetted in 1973 and is the Republic’s oldest Roman Catholic church, will receive the largest disbursement of S$1.37 million from the National Monuments Fund’s (NMF) restoration fund this year.
Other recipients are the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, St Joseph’s Church, Nagore Dargah Indian Muslim Heritage Centre, and four first-time recipients — the Armenian Church of St Gregory, the Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Hajjah Fatimah Mosque and Chinese temple Tan Si Chong Su.
Works that may be supported under the restoration fund include urgent structural repairs and major restoration works to preserve historic and architectural features.
Including the latest grant, the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd has received the largest disbursement to a single national monument, totalling S$2.85 million. The cathedral will use this year’s disbursement towards reinstating the interiors of the church, said the National Heritage Board (NHB), which assesses applications for the NMF.
The cathedral closed its doors in 2013 for major restoration works to address structural defects and foundation issues. Its total restoration cost is expected to be S$11.8 million.
The Hajjah Fatimah Mosque will use the grants to repair its walls and repaint its facade in mineral paint, among other things.
The NMF was first introduced eight years ago with a pool of S$5 million dedicated to monument restoration works. Last year, it got a boost from a second tranche of S$11.77 million, including S$2 million set aside for maintenance, in recognition of the “growing needs of our national monuments”, said the NHB.
Ms Jean Wee, the statutory board’s director of preservation of sites and monuments, said: “Maintaining old buildings like our national monuments is not an easy task, and requires much commitment and funds from the owners. We recognise this, and with the enhanced NMF we are able to help more monument owners with the rising costs of such works. This is a joint effort to ensure that our monuments will be preserved for posterity.”
