Located at the tip of North-Eastern Singapore, Seletar is not typically a place for leisurely jaunts (unless you’re planning to hit a couple of holes at the golf course). Besides the Seletar Country Club, it’s mostly an industrial estate teeming with manufacturing and engineering firms. But that’s about to change—in a few years, this former British naval and air base will transform into one of Singapore’s most exciting neighborhoods. Here’s why.
Seletar Reservoir, Photo credit: Brian Evans
Getting there is a breeze—if you drive, that is
Connecting the Seletar Expressway (SLE) with the Central Expressway (CTE) and Tampiness Expressway (TPE) is an expanded interchange that’s part of a project comprising four new flyovers and five new road connections. It also includes a new road linking Yishun Avenues 1 and 6 and also the dual three-lane Sengkang West Road. This means drivers can skip the usually congested Lentor Avenue, and Yishun Avenues 1 and 2 with alternative routes to the three expressways.
There is going to be major food hub at Seletar Aerospace Hub
One exciting development in the area is an up and coming lifestyle concept at Seletar Aerospace Park, a 320-hectare space surrounding Seletar Airport. A cluster of 32 black and white colonial bungalows there will be used for lifestyle businesses, one being Wheeler’s Estate by the family-run cafe Wheeler’s Yard that’s opening in August. Expect a caravan park, with football and basketball facilities located on a 6,800 sq. m space outside a two-storey bungalow housing a 100-seater restaurant on the first floor. Another two bungalows will be occupied by restaurants from the Pentagon Group, which runs Di Wei Teochew Restaurant at the Botanic Gardens. According to a report in The Straits Times, developer JTC is also planning to hold outdoor concerts, mini bazaars, carnivals and movie nights on the site.
Mandai is getting two new wildlife parks
There will be a new Bird Park and Rainforest Park on top of the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and River Safari at Mandai, with developments to be completed in phases from 2020 onwards. Formerly known as the Jurong Bird Park, the new aviary will have one of the world’s largest collection of birds, with nine enclosures featuring landscapes like wetlands, bamboo forests and rainforests. The park will also focus on conservations efforts of critically-endangered species, particularly those from Southeast Asia. And for a hint of what’s to come, the Rainforest Park will replicate the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, with forest floor pathways and treetop canopies. Both parks will be located outside the Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
Seletar Airport will have a new passenger terminal building
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore announced on May 19 that there will be a new Passenger Terminal Building built at Seletar Airport by the third quarter of 2018. This development will help accommodate the growth in air traffic, “free up capacity for jet aircraft operations at Changi” and also feature upgraded facilities and amenities.
