Bedok residents will have a sprawling new complex as big as three football fields in 2017 housing the Kampong Chai Chee community club, a new sports facility, library, polyclinic and elder care centre all under one roof.
Residents gathered yesterday for the ground-breaking ceremony for what is currently dubbed the Bedok Integrated Complex, as an official name has yet to be chosen.
The town centre building will aim to provide the area's 250,000 residents with a single destination to meet the "wellness" needs of a three-generation family.
The concept, first announced in 2011, was finalised after feedback from 12,000 residents.
"The whole objective was to create a one-stop family friendly centre where grandparents, parents, kids and friends can all come together," said Mr Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development.
Also present were Minister of State for National Development and Defence, and Mayor of South East District Maliki Osman and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say.
All three are also advisers to East Coast GRC grassroots organisations.
Most of the facilities which will be in the new complex are currently sited nearby and used extensively. The polyclinic, for example, was built in 1977 and is used by almost 1,000 patients a day. The elder care centre will be a new feature.
"This is really a golden opportunity to rebuild some of these facilities at a centralised location," said Mr Lee, who promised that residents would not experience any disruption of services.
The new Bedok sports centre will have eight badminton courts, six sheltered tennis courts, a 800 sq m gym and five pools, one of which will be Olympic-sized.
The Kampong Chai Chee community club, now at 200 Bedok North Ave 1 nearby, will take up the first three floors of the seven-storey building.
The elder care centre will provide recreational and health care services for up to 100 seniors per day. "Bedok and many of its facilities are very old," said consultant Lawrence Tan, 44. "So younger families, especially those that have moved here in the past few years, want to see change."
