SINGAPORE - Cyclists and hikers can now tackle the 1.76 km Lornie Nature Corridor - the latest section of the Coast to Coast trail that stretches from Jurong Lake Gardens to Coney Island Park.
The corridor that opened on Saturday morning (Nov 21) also serves as a green route between MacRitchie Reservoir Park and Adam Road.
National Development Minister Desmond Lee marked the opening by planting 150 trees along the corridor with the community.
The initiative is part of the One Million Trees Movement, which has already planted over 80,000 trees since its launch in April. It aims tohit the million mark by 2030. Singapore has around seven million trees.
Mr Lee told the launch: "These efforts are part of our commitment to transform Singapore into a city in nature over the next decade...These will help mitigate the effects of urbanisation and climate change, and provide Singaporeans with greater access to nature and create a more liveable environment."
The corridor will also form part of a 10km stretch running from Kheam Hock Road to Upper Thomson Road that is undergoing rewilding - a process that allows plants to grow naturally with selective intervention.
The National Parks Board has earmarked 32 stretches of nature ways, roads and habitats in parks and green spaces for rewilding over the next three years. Vegetation will be allowed to grow naturally at these sites and undesirable plant species that are more prone to fire and storm risks will also be pruned or removed.
The Lornie corridor was formed by reclaiming land freed up by scaling down Lornie Road from seven to four lanes after the Lornie Highway was built.
But constructing the highway affected part of the Bukit Brown Cemetery, which sparked tension between development and conservation, Mr Lee noted.
"We had to grapple with trade-offs between improving our transportation networks and conserving our heritage and biodiversity," he added.
"Yet, it was these very difficult issues that opened up conversations, and allowed us to deepen the partnership between the Government and civil society such as nature and heritage groups."
