Singapore International Foundation

Expatriates go on waterways expedition

Over the weekend, on 30 May, 38 expatriates from Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, the UK and the US gathered at Lavender MRT station for a educational tour on Singapore’s waterways.

Organised by the SIF with expert guides from Waterways Watch Society (WWS), the tour charted the history of Singapore’s waterways, and gave participants a glimpse of the country’s efforts to manage and diversify Singapore’s current water resources.

Led by Mr. Tony Tan, a member of the WWS, the tour started off with an introduction to some of the historical sites around the Kallang Basin, such as the Kallang Gasworks building and Crawford Bridge.

After walking along Rochor Road and the Kallang River, the group arrived at the Waterways Watch Society headquarters for a presentation by chairman of WWS, Mr. Eugene Heng, on the conservation and management of Singapore’s waterways, and WWS’s role.

Despite a short downpour, participants eagerly hopped onto the River Hippo boat for a cruise around the Marina Barrage and the Singapore River, before disembarking at the Marina Barrage gallery for another guided tour.

For Canadian Wayne Burnett, 46, who has lived in Singapore for the past eight years, the tour provided interesting nuggets of information that he never knew about. “While I have seen some of the sights, it is nice for the information to be organised this way. And I discovered that the Benjamin Sheares Bridge is the longest bridge in Singapore — something I didn’t know about before,” he said.

This activity is part of the Xpats Connect! programme and was organised by IN executive Juliet.