ST : Holland Village park? Motorists prefer carpark

Dec 09,2010

Holland Village park? Motorists prefer carpark

By Goh Chin Lian
HOLLAND Village is to get its own park - but it is not the kind some residents and visitors want.

While planners envision a green space where people can gather and relax, motorists who complain of a shortage of parking spaces say they would rather have a carpark.

The mini park next to a Circle Line MRT station is due to be completed by the fourth quarter of next year. Located at the junction of Holland Avenue and Holland Road, it will mark the entrance to the enclave of restaurants, cafes and pubs popular with Singaporeans and expatriates alike.

However, critics say the green lung does nothing to address a shortage of parking spaces close to the shops and eating places.

The 0.3ha area marked out for the park used to be a 46-space carpark, until it was closed for MRT works in October 2004, along with another carpark with 70 spaces next to a former post office.

This came after 32 parking spaces fronting restaurants and pubs were removed due to security concerns after the Bali bomb blasts in 2002.

The Land Transport Authority said at the time that the two carparks would be reinstated when MRT construction was completed.

By 2005, the Urban Redevelopment Authority had added 157 parking spaces, nine more than those removed.

Transport planners hope visitors to Holland Village will leave their cars behind and take the Circle Line when it opens next year.

But motorists said the parking crunch remains. When The Straits Times visited the area yesterday afternoon, cars were streaming in and out of a makeshift driveway as workers were building the entrance of the Holland Village MRT station.

Advertising agency account director Jeffrey Maher, 45, who goes to a bank there once a week, felt parking spaces were more needed than green spaces. 'The carparks are always full around lunch time,' said the Briton, who lives in a condominium in nearby Cornwall Gardens.

Motorists like salesman Shawn Loh, 38, find the carparks too far a walk from the banks, adding: 'This area should be a carpark, not a park.'

The park will be triangular with four long benches, said the National Parks Board. It will be split into two levels, linked by a flight of stairs on which people can sit and watch outdoor performances.

Five existing mature rain trees will provide shade. Tall grass will be planted to shield it from a busy road junction.

Student Nick Jachowski, 24, who visits the area two to three times a week, wants a park. 'There isn't too much green space in Holland Village. There isn't a place to sit down unless you go into the shops,' said the American PhD student at the National University of Singapore.

Student Faith Ong, 13, who lives at the Leedon 2 condominium in Leedon Road, is also in favour of a park, saying: 'I can sit around and talk to my friends at the park instead of going to the malls.'