NParks reopens Sembawang Hot Spring Park

- Park enhanced with suggestions from the community

- Educational features, improved accessibility while retaining the Park’s rustic nature

The National Parks Board (NParks) today reopened the enhanced 1.1 hectare Sembawang Hot Spring Park. The park now features new cascading pools and a water collection point, enhanced accessibility for wheelchair users, and educational panels where visitors can learn about Singapore’s only hot spring park’s history and geology. In designing the park, NParks incorporated feedback and suggestions from the community from a public consultation in end 2017. Some suggestions included having a F&B outlet, an activity lawn, toilets and ensuring the park remains rustic and natural. 

This is the only natural hot spring park in Singapore today and it holds many collective memories for the community. It has a ‘kampung-like’ environment and a community spirit which NParks has tapped on and retained in the design of this unique park.

Enhanced features

To bring the geothermally heated groundwater closer to visitors, new features such as the Cascading Pool, the Water Collection Point and the Educational Zone have been specially designed. Located at the heart of the park is the Cascading Pool, where water cools naturally as it flows down four tiers of pools. Visitors can enjoy a foot bath at the pool. The Main Water Collection Point allows visitors of all ages to collect water readily. Visitors may also cook eggs using a separate receptacle at this station. Children can safely engage in sensory play with the warm spring water at the Educational Zone, and learn about the groundwater cycle through interpretative panels. The park’s accessibility has also been improved to be more inclusive, with wheelchair-friendly ramps and a specially designed tap at the Water Collection Point for the disabled.

Enriching the kampung spirit

The park has been planted up with plants reminiscent of old kampung life. Upon entering the park at the new Floral Walk, park users will see fruit trees and edible plants commonly found in kampungs, and flowers commonly seen in the 1960s and 1990s. The rustic environment is further enhanced by unpaved paths and naturalised streams flowing from the hot spring, which mimics the freshwater swamp forest landscape. There are seating areas sheltered by planted trellises featuring flowering creepers such as the Elephant Climber (Argyreia nervosa). The public can learn more about the history of the site and geothermal processes behind the formation of a hot spring through interpretative signs at locations of interest.

Members of Parliament for Sembawang and Nee Soon GRCs – Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport, Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education, Advisers Mr Amrin Amin, Dr Lim Wee Kiak, Dr Lee Bee Wah and Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim – opened Sembawang Hot Spring Park today with the planting of on Island Lychee Tree (Pometia pinnata f. alnifolia), a Lychee Tree (Litchi chinensis) and a Hairless Rambutan Tree (Nephelium maingayi), with more than 450 residents of the Nee Soon South and Gambas constituencies.

Sembawang Hot Spring Park is open daily from 7am to 7pm. It is accessible via Gambas Avenue, and from the nearest bus stops 400 metres away at Sembawang Road. The nearest car park is located 400 metres away at 114 Yishun Ring Road.

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