COME 2011, children celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival will be able to carry lanterns along a 3km river running through Bishan Park.

In launching Singapore's first river relocation project at the park on Saturday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong asked residents to care for the waterway.

The river is the first of its kind in Singapore, he said.

It is created by diverting the Kallang drainage canal through the park, and reforming it from concrete waterway to winding river.

PM Lee urged residents: 'When it rains in the estates, that bit of litter, plastic bag or cigarette butt which you just dropped will be washed into the drains, the streams, the canals, into the river and the reservoir and finally PUB will have to spend money to pick it up and clean up the water before you can drink it.'

The $76 million Bishan Park project is part of a masterplan launched in 2006 to transform Singapore's 15 reservoirs, 32 major rivers and 7,000km of waterways into beautiful spaces for recreation.

By 2011, 28 projects islandwide will be completed.

Four are ready. They are popular venues for recreational activities and community events, he told some 200 residents.

For instance, the Marina Barrage, opened in October last year, has been enjoyed by more than half a million visitors.

Soon, people will also enjoy the revamped Bishan Park which will feature a river promenade and spaces for quiet relaxation or exercise.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Sunday Times.