$670k for church, mosque repairs

Two of Singapore's national monuments will receive money from the Government for urgent restoration work.

The St Joseph's Church and the Abdul Gafoor Mosque will get a total of almost $670,000, the National Heritage Board announced yesterday.

The church will receive about $532,000 to restore its stained glass windows, and the mosque will receive $137,500 for repair work to its roof, The Straits Times reported.

The two monuments were awarded the grant under the National Monuments Fund, which is a co-funding scheme introduced in 2008 to help the owners of national monuments in preservation efforts.

Since 2008, 11 monuments have benefited from the fund, which grants up to $1 million per calendar year for urgently required restoration work.

Ms Jean Wee, director of the Preservation of Monuments Board, said it encourages monument owners to be responsible for their buildings.

The grants are given based on a co-funding principle, which "enables monument owners to kick start some work while rallying their immediate community and stakeholders to support their preservation efforts", Channel NewsAsia quoted her as saying.

"We are heartened that many monument owners have taken very positive and proactive steps. We hope that with everybody chipping in, our national monuments can continue to stand as witnesses to our shared history, and benefit future generations of Singaporeans."

This article was first published in The New Paper.