Dragonboat Facility Launched In Aljunied

Residents at Bedok Reservoir have a new S$350,000 attraction to get their feet wet.

Foreign Minister George Yeo, who is also a Member of Parliament for the area, officiated the opening of "Aljunied Boathouse @ Bedok Reservoir" on Sunday.

It is the first dragonboat facility to be owned and run by a constituency.

It was designed by Temasek Polytechnic students and took four months to complete.

It will serve as a venue for residents and students to come together and take part in the sport.

Mr Yeo said, "Dragon boating is getting more and more popular throughout the world today. And in Asia, it has come back to life. It's an old tradition....which is refreshed, and reincarnated in the 21st century, modernised, used by corporations for team building And when MPs each rode a dragon boat two years ago, we thought wow, if we can use this to strengthen our own committee organisations in Aljunied GRC, it will be excellent."

When asked how the Boathouse would encourage Singaporeans to take part in the sport, following the the recent fatal incident where five Singapore dragon boaters perished in Cambodia, Mr Yeo said, "The circumstances (in Cambodia) were different. That was quite uncontrolled and even a little uncharted for us. Certainly they should have taken more precautions.

"But in the case of Singapore, we've been at it for some time, there may be a need for some fine-tuning, some tweaking of rules here and there. But I think by and large, it is a safe sport and one which is very enjoyable."