Revamped Rifle Range Nature Park opens with 7km trails, 31m lookout point and quarry wetland

Attending the nature park’s opening on Saturday was Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who was hosted by National Development Minister Desmond Lee.

“Green spaces like this are an integral part of our city,” said Mr Wong, who noted that many residents spent more time in Singapore’s nature reserves, parks and park connectors over the past three years. 

“Some discovered them for the first time. Others released how precious and special they were, and how we should really be cherishing these places much more. So, it is really not an exaggeration to say that green spaces helped Singaporeans to get through those difficult times of the pandemic.”

Mr Wong added that there are plans to develop five more nature parks in the coming years. 

“We will find more innovative ways to integrate nature into our city and bring Singaporeans closer to nature, so that every home, no matter where you stay in Singapore, can be within a 10-minute walk of a park,” he said.

GREEN BUFFER

Ahead of the opening, National Parks Board (NParks) group director of conservation Lim Liang Jim told media in a briefing that one of the aims of the park was to add green spaces in an organic way that would protect native fauna species. 

Nature parks are also a way to reduce footfall on core nature reserves, by redirecting visitor flow.

Rifle Range Nature park serves as a green buffer to protect Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, while enhancing ecological connectivity and providing complementary habitats for the nature reserve’s biodiversity.

“We have always been taking a science-based approach. (There is) no point putting things into place without a proper scientific foundation,” said Mr Lim.

“So the main thing to do is to figure out where our remaining large green spaces are and how they relate to each other and how we can connect them better.”