Singapore's first integrated community hub, in Tampines, will have a performing arts theatre and sports and recreation facilities including a 5,000-seat stadium with a Fifa- approved football pitch.
Our Tampines Hub will open in stages from November this year.
The 5.3ha project, which is the size of about seven football fields, sits on the site of the former Tampines Stadium and Sports Hall.
The People's Association-led project will offer residents a range of services and facilities under one roof, such as a five-storey regional library, community club programmes and more than 100 shops.
By November, residents can expect a one-stop public service centre to access government agency services, an 800-seat hawker centre and a HomeTeamNS Club with sports programmes at the hub.
It will also house a communal kitchen by November for seniors to socialise while preparing, cooking and having meals together.
The initiative by the Community Chest, the fund-raising and engagement arm of the National Council of Social Service, aims to strengthen bonds between older people living alone, and help them share their skills and knowledge.
From January next year, the gym, karaoke and bowling facilities will be ready. And by August next year, amenities such as the swimming complex, performance arts theatre and library will open.
Some 3,000 Tampines residents gathered yesterday for the topping- up ceremony for the hub, which was first introduced in 2011 by then National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan as part of the town's five-year masterplan.
After starting the day with a mass walk from the five community clubs in Tampines, residents had a preview of the hub's facilities at the project site for the first time.
They were joined by the five Tampines GRC MPs - Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat; Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli; Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth Baey Yam Keng; Mr Desmond Choo; and Ms Cheng Li Hui.
At the event, Mr Heng said the hub "will have many innovative features, in the way that government agencies serve residents, (and) in the way that residents come together to interact with one another".
"The residents are very excited and they hope we can build it even faster," he said.
"Beyond the hardware, what is most important is for us to develop a sense of caring and kindness in our community."
Madam Pauline Ng, 50, an engineer who has lived in Tampines for more than 20 years, is looking forward to using the hub's sports facilities such as the gym and pools, as well as the library.
"It's a good idea to have a hub which centralises so many services so that we don't need to run all over the place," she said.
