Queenstown residents are set to get a new park that will be located next to an upcoming housing development in Mei Chin Road. On Dec 8, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) published a proposed amendment to its masterplan, which indicated that a new park of about 1.4ha – equivalent in size to about two football fields – is in the works next to Queen’s Close.
The planned park incorporates space currently occupied by the Alexandra-Queensway Park Connector, as well as a stretch of mature trees next to Housing Board blocks in Queen’s Close. Adjacent to the park site, a 3.2ha plot that is currently zoned for housing, subject to detailed planning, was assigned a gross plot ratio of 3.9. This plot was previously occupied by the former Mei Chin Secondary and Primary schools, which were demolished by the HDB between 2022 and 2023.
URA’s proposed amendment shows that the Singapore Police Force’s Queensway Base, which currently houses the Special Operations Command (SOC), will likely be affected by the upcoming park. At least one of the base’s decades-old blocks falls within the boundary of the proposed park.
Heritage blogger and author Jerome Lim said the three 10-storey blocks were built by the HDB in the 1960s to house policemen from the Reserve Unit and their families, as part of the development of the base. The Reserve Unit was the precursor of the SOC, which was formed in 1992 and included the then Police Dog Unit and Police Tactical Team.
Based on URA’s masterplan, the roughly 6ha SOC compound is zoned for housing, subject to detailed planning. Regarding the proposed masterplan amendment, URA said on its website that more details on development plans for the site will be shared when they are ready.
Asked for more details about the plans and how they would affect the SOC compound, URA and the police said they could not add more at this time.
