Parks worth every cent and inch

That's the view of 40 people in ST poll, who voted to keep the parks; but most wouldn't pay to use them

By Neo Hui Min

LAST year, the National Parks Board (NParks) spent $27.7 million to maintain the 42 public parks on the mainland plus the Pulau Ubin recreation area.

Friends relaxing in Botanic Gardens

Currently, parks take up 2,500 ha of land, the equivalent of 4 1/2 Ang Mo Kio new towns.

That is money and land well used, said 40 people polled by The Straits Times. All of them voted to keep the parks, even though half of them are not frequent park users.

Of late, there has been debate over land set aside for parks versus that set aside for golf courses. The issue cropped up again at Friday's public forum on land use.

Held to discuss issues linked to the Concept Plan review, one participant suggested some of Singapore's 22 golf courses be converted to public parks.

At the moment, there is 0.67 ha of park land for every 1,000 persons here.

To put Singapore on par with developed countries around the world, NParks hopes to raise the ratio to 0.8 ha of park land per 1,000 persons.

This would mean setting aside another 2,000 ha for park land.

Unlike golfers, park users are not willing to pay to use parks.

Of the 40 interviewed, only a handful said they would pay $1 to use one of the big parks. The rest said they would give the parks a miss if there was an entrance fee. Mr S.T. Tan, 70, said that parks are public spaces and should be free of charge. 'Even in foreign countries, you don't see people having to pay to use parks. Just look at Tang Dynasty and Haw Par Villa and you'll see that it won't work...'

Madam Vivian Chan, 40, a housewife with three children, said: 'If you want people to have a healthy lifestyle, you should not make them pay for parks.'

Madam Violet Lim, 34, who works in the aromatherapy industry, is one of the few who would pay to use a park. 'For myself, a dollar to use a big park like the Botanic Gardens is fine, since we can spend a significant amount of time here, but to impose a charge would mean turning a lot of people away.'