SINGAPORE - Life just got a whole lot easier for Tampines residents with the completion and grand opening of Our Tampines Hub on Sunday (Aug 6).
Previously, community activities were held at temporary spaces like the plot of state land adjacent to the Tampines MRT station.
Now, they have a 5,000 seat stadium with a high quality synthetic football pitch at the hub, called the Town Square.
"There is also a whole range of other services and retail outlets, so residents can just drop by Our Tampines Hub on their way home from work and get all you need here," said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The hub is Singapore's first integrated lifestyle hub and was born out of the ideas of thousands of residents, noted PM Lee, who was the guest of honour at the launch.
"From the idea to the realisation, residents have been involved and consulted during the process, because we wanted to build a hub by the residents for the residents," he said.
This was a case of the Government trying out new things and improving as it went along, he said, adding: "We will continue to learn, and to improve."
The integrated community hub opened the first of its facilities last November, and gradually opened more over the past eight months.
Its latest facilities to open include the Town Square, and the Festive Arts Theatre, which can seat 400 for movie screenings and live performances.
The five-storey Tampines Regional Library reopened its doors last week after moving to the hub.
Residents can make use of the hub's six rooftop swimming pools, the largest kids' playground in Tampines, and a sports and recreation park with four tennis courts, two futsal courts and one hockey court.
They can also use the services of 12 government agencies at the hub's 24-hour Public Service Centre.
The number of cases the centre typically handles has almost doubled, from 5,744 transactions a month when it opened last November to 9,691 in June.
On Sunday, about 100,000 people visited the hub, which held several grand opening day activities like community performances throughout the day.
PM Lee said it was good to see so many Tampines residents from different races and backgrounds celebrating together.
Wishing them a happy National Day in advance, he said that they should continue to protect, uphold and strengthen Singapore's precious racial harmony.
