Pre-enlistees can enjoy free Safra gym membership for a year under new initiative
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Senior Minister of State for Defence Mohamad Maliki Osman (centre), who is also president of Safra, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong (second from left), Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Manpower Low Yen Ling (left) and Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Alex Yam (second from right) viewing an architectural model of Safra's upcoming clubhouse in Choa Chu Kang Park.
ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
SINGAPORE - Young men looking to keep fit before entering national service can use the facilities in six Safra gyms for a year without having to pay a cent under a new initiative announced on Thursday (Oct 3).
The six EnergyOne gyms are located in Jurong, Mount Faber, Punggol, Tampines, Toa Payoh and Yishun.
The Pre-Enlistees Exercise Programme for National Service (Prep4NS) will give those eligible access to the gyms during off-peak hours.
Registration for the programme, a joint effort by Safra and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), will be offered on a trial basis from next month.
The one-year membership will start once the pre-enlistees' applications are approved.
Senior Minister of State for Defence Mohamad Maliki Osman, who is also president of Safra, announced the initiative on the sidelines of the ground-breaking ceremony for Safra's upcoming clubhouse in Choa Chu Kang Park.
He told reporters that the programme is meant to encourage pre-enlistees to take charge of their fitness and to prepare for their Individual Physical Proficiency Test (IPPT).
"(The gyms) will also offer customised group sessions for our pre-enlistees to work together, prepare for their IPPT. We hope they can work out with their friends, improve their fitness level, and hopefully enjoy the process," added Dr Maliki.
Prep4NS is meant for those who have registered for national service but have yet to enlist, and are assessed to be medically fit to serve, Mindef said a statement.
They can use the EnergyOne gyms on weekdays from 6.30am to 5pm and from 10.30pm to 1am. On weekends, the timings are from 6.30am to 1pm, and from 8pm to 1am.
More details on registration for Prep4NS will be provided on the Safra website from next month.
Under the Enlistment Act, all male citizens and permanent residents are liable for national service registration upon reaching the age of 16½.
According to the Safra website, for non-members, an all-day access membership to all EnergyOne gyms cost $963 for 12 months. An off-peak access day pass for a single club costs $577.80 for nine months.
The 1.4ha, five-storey Safra Choa Chu Kang, slated to be ready in 2022, will be the first Safra clubhouse to have a trampoline park, offering trampoline aerobics programmes for adults and children.
It will be operated by Katapult.
More than 90,000 operationally-ready national servicemen (NSmen) and their families living in north-western Singapore are expected to benefit from the facilities at the upcoming clubhouse, which is expected to draw more than 1.4 million visitors a year when it opens.
Located within Choa Chu Kang Park and a five-minute walk from the Choa Chu Kang MRT station, with a "Fitness Oasis" theme, Safra's seventh clubhouse will also be the first to have an integrated Fitness and Wellness Hub.
This hub will span about 29,000 sq ft, and include an EnergyOne gym, a spa, and a fitness studio.
There will also be an indoor climbing facility and an entertainment hub, where NSmen and their families can bowl, play darts, and belt out a tune in KTV rooms.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, who was the guest of honour of the event, said that the Choa Chu Kang area is becoming more well-connected, with the opening of the Downtown Line to Bukit Panjang a few years ago, and a new bus interchange and the Jurong Regional Line in the works.
"For this reason, we worked very hard to persuade the Safra management to locate their seventh clubhouse here."
Mr Gan, who is also a Choa Chu Kang GRC MP, added: "What makes a town is not just about good facilities, it's also about the people.
"Therefore, it's important that with the development of this club, we also have to roll out programmes and services to attract family members and NSmen to come and use these facilities."
For instance, Safra said it intends to organise more than 80 unit-cohesion activities at the club for over 8,000 NSmen within the first year once the clubhouse opens in 2022.
Safra Choa Chu Kang will boast a number of environment-friendly features.
It will have solar panels on its roof to generate more than 470,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually - the highest among Safra clubs.
This is enough to power more than 100 Housing Board four-room units for a year.
There are also plans to harvest rainwater from rooftop collection points and store them for irrigation purposes, said Safra.
This could save enough water per annum to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Other features include a sheltered swimming pool, a sheltered futsal court and a 150m sky running track on the fourth floor.
NSman Sze Jun Rong, 32, who has lived in Choa Chu Kang for 30 years, likes that the facilities are sheltered.
"For example, when it rains at other swimming pools, you have to stop the activity. So I think Safra Choa Chu Kang has adopted a very good concept in sheltering the whole place," said the manager at ST Engineering Land Systems.
Safra was formed in 1972 to provide for the social and recreational needs of NSmen and their families.
As of March, it has more than 450,000 members.