SINGAPORE – Singapore’s push for its citizens to be more physically active while having access to health and wellness facilities will be enhanced when the Toa Payoh Integrated Development is completed by 2030.
The 12ha site will comprise a regional sports centre, polyclinic, public library and regional town park, and will be located between Lorong 6 Toa Payoh and the Pan-Island Expressway.
The proposed sporting facilities include sheltered tennis, futsal and netball courts, swimming pools, indoor sports halls, a gymnasium, fitness studios and a football stadium.
There are also plans to house the national training centres for aquatics, netball and table tennis there.
A public roadshow held at the weekend at the HDB Hub atrium in Toa Payoh drew 5,000 people and residents could view the design for the upcoming development – a multi-agency collaboration by Sport Singapore, the Ministry of Health, National Library Board, National Parks Board and National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP) – and share their feedback.
Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Chee Hong Tat, who is an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, said on Sunday he would “like to see if there is a possibility for us to accelerate and complete it earlier”, ahead of the 2030 deadline.
He added: “We want to bring about better facilities for residents from Bishan and Toa Payoh by developing this project... It is one way in which we can continue to rejuvenate a mature estate to ensure that we are improving it from time to time.”
Business owner Tham Tuck Choy, 45, has lived in Toa Payoh for the past five years and uses the existing swimming complex at least three times a week with his family.
He said: “There hasn’t been a lot of development in Toa Payoh for quite some time, so we have been looking for something fresh to come out for the town.”
Associate Professor Chong Phui-Nah, chief executive of NGHP and Primary Care, said the new location of the Toa Payoh Polyclinic alongside the community and sports facilities makes it “well-placed to meet the needs of the residents, from providing regular assessment for healthy child development to senior services such as frailty screening and health promotion interventions to encourage healthy and active ageing”.
Education officer Yong Eng Kiat, who has been a resident in Toa Payoh for four decades, said: “Places like the polyclinic are far away (from the central area of Toa Payoh) but now it’s going to be integrated so it’s a bit similar to Tampines. I’m most excited about the sheltered tennis court because it’s so hard to find tennis courts in Singapore.”
SportSG chief executive Lim Teck Yin noted how the current Toa Payoh Sport Centre has been a venue for many major events held in the Republic, such as the South-east Asia Peninsular Games in 1973, the SEA Games in 1983, 1993, 2015, and the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
Mr Lim said: “The new integrated development is part of our efforts to bring quality sporting infrastructure closer to the community.
“Once completed, it will build on its heritage and be a boon to sports fans and the active lifestyles of many Singaporeans.”
Ms Vivien Tai, 20, captain of the national artistic swimming team which trains at Toa Payoh, hoped the new plans included a sheltered pool “so that we don’t have to face bad weather when there’s lightning, it’s raining or when it’s very hot”.
The Toa Payoh project and Punggol Regional Sports Centre are part of the Sports Facilities Master Plan, a key initiative of national sports blueprint Vision 2030. They will be the latest integrated community hubs that house multiple facilities. Others include Our Tampines Hub, Heartbeat@Bedok, Bukit Canberra and One Punggol – the latter two opened in late 2022.
The Punggol centre, which will have facilities like a 5,000-seat football stadium, a swimming complex with five pools, and an indoor sports hall with 20 badminton courts, was originally scheduled to be completed by 2023 but will be ready at the end of 2024.
