PAP’s Ang Mo Kio team vows to give its all
Mr Lee Hsien Loong with residents at yesterday’s launch of the master plan to upgrade Ang Mio Kio’s estates. Photo: Wee Teck Hian
SINGAPORE — The People’s Action Party (PAP) team in Ang Mo Kio GRC, which is poised to face a challenge from the Reform Party (RP), will “give it our all”, said PAP secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.
Mr Lee, who is Prime Minister, was responding to questions from the media while on a walkabout at various markets in his home turf.
“We take all competition seriously. If there is a contest, we will give it our all,” he said. In the previous General Election in 2011, the RP also fielded a team there, but lost, having garnered only 30.7 per cent of the vote, making Mr Lee’s the best-performing team.
On whether he expects the team that he will again anchor to fare similarly at next month’s polls, Mr Lee said: “We try our best.”
The RP’s intended slate will be led by lawyer and newcomer M Ravi, and comprises three other electoral debutants, including blogger Roy Ngerng.
The PAP is fielding new face Darryl David, as well as return candidate, Dr Koh Poh Koon, alongside incumbents Mr Gan Thiam Poh, Mr Ang Hin Kee and Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar. Dr Koh, who is a colorectal surgeon, was in 2013 defeated in the Punggol East by-election. Mr Gan’s ward was absorbed into Ang Mo Kio GRC from Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.
Yesterday, Mr Lee also launched a master plan to upgrade estates under the Ang Mo Kio Town Council over the next five years. The plan includes improvements to the polyclinic, swimming complex, gardens and community clubs, as well as better connectivity with new MRT stations and an expressway. Seventeen blocks have also been selected to undergo the Lift Upgrading Programme over the next few years.
The master plan comes just before Nomination Day tomorrow and as Singaporeans are due to head to the polls on Sept 11.
Mr Lee, who is also grassroots adviser to Ang Mo Kio GRC, noted that it had been five years since they launched the previous master plan book.
Apart from upgrading existing facilities, such as the playground and fitness corners, Mr Lee said indoor gyms will also be installed at void deck spaces, so residents can exercise regardless of the weather.
He added that there would also be newly constructed linkways, barrier-free access points and drop-off porches, to improve accessibility for residents, especially those who use wheelchairs.
“As I go around Ang Mo Kio and see our new town, we see more and more residents who are old, who need walking sticks, who need wheelchairs, who need help. And I think we’ll look after them with the access points, the drop-off points, with the barrier-free access, so that they also can move around and have normal, active lives,” Mr Lee said.
As previously announced, Ang Mo Kio will be Singapore’s first “cycling town”, and residents can look forward to being able to use infrastructure such as park connectors.
In addition, two MRT stations — Mayflower and Lentor — on the Thomson-East Coast Line will open, while the North-South Expressway will connect the area to the city and the rest of the island.
The Teck Ghee estate will also be revamped into Singapore’s second “green” neighbourhood, said Mr Lee. The S$38.3 million improvements will include an automated waste-collection system, solar panels installed on roofs and rooftop planting in 40 blocks of flats in the estate.
With the polls due to take place on Sept 11, Mr Lee noted that the next two weeks will get a little busy.
“But I think it is okay. I’ve done this many times before,” he quipped. “I think we’ve done our homework, we’ve done our preparations and we look forward to your support for us so that we can work together and continue to make our town, our neighbourhood, our city, our country better year by year for all of us.”
Clerk Candy Goh, 34, said she is looking forward to more barrier-free access points for her elderly mother and grandmother, who have slight difficulties with walking.
Resident T Anbalagan, who is in his early 50s, said the upgrading of the polyclinic would benefit the area’s ageing residents. He added that he is looking forward to the new park connectors, as he has in recent months been into cycling.
