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Punggol ( or ) is a planning area and new town situated on the Tanjong Punggol peninsula in the North-East Region of Singapore. The town directly borders Sengkang to the south and shares riverine boundaries with the planning area of Seletar, as well as Yishun to the west and Pasir Ris to the east. Bounding the town to the north and north-east is the Straits of Johor, with Coney Island included as a part of the Punggol planning area.
Under the Pungool 21 initiative, plans to turn the area into a new residential town were announced in 1996 and development of the town started in 1998. Due to the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the financial troubles within the construction industry in 2003, the plan did not fully materialise. In 2007, a new initiative, the Punggol 21-plus plan, was introduced to redevelop the area into a waterfront town.
Punggol is divided into 11 districts: Canal, Coney Island, Crescent, Matilda, Northshore, Punggol Central, Punggol Field East, Punggol Field West, Punggol Downtown, Punggol Point and Waterway West.
Ponggol also means "a stump of a tree", especially "a high stump". There are suggestions that the district's name is based on Tamil language (Thai Pongal, "the feast of the boiling rice", celebrated when the sun enters the sign of Capricornus). However, the word Ponggol or Punggol is definitely Malay language.
Historically, Punggol was populated mostly by Teochew people and . However, the original settlers were predominantly Malays. The end of Upper Serangoon Road is known to Teochews as kangkar or "river bank" or "river mouth". Ferries were used on the Sungei Serangoon as transport. An old market was also located here. The Catholic missionaries arrived here 140 years ago and set up churches and schools. A Malay kampong, which has since been cleared, could also be found at Tanjong Punggol. At the end of Punggol Port Road, Indonesian and Malaysian fishermen auctioned their catch at the wholesale fish market.
The location was declared as a national heritage site with a plaque commemorating the victims of the massacre.
Punggol was also known for its sumptuous seafood and boatels that provided services like docking and renting of boats for boating, water skiing and Scuba diving lessons. These seafood restaurants and boatels have since been relocated in the mid-1990s to facilitate land reclamation works.Only two out of the four seafood eateries that operated at the old Punggol Point until 1995 are still around in Singapore: Poultry and pig farms were also gradually phased out when redevelopment commenced in the 1970s. The last pig farm closed down in 1990. Land vacated by resettled farmers were then tendered out on short-term leases for non-pollutive agricultural activities, which included hydroponic non-pollutive vegetable and orchid farms that used to flourish along the Cheng Lim Farmways and Buangkok Farmways. These farms existed along with old kampongs and low-rise residential areas. All of these farms have given way to the high-rise HDB flats of Sengkang New Town and Punggol New Town.
A few months after the speech, Punggol 21, which was part of Cheng San Group Representation Constituency then, became an election carrot for the People's Action Party (PAP) to beat a Workers' Party team led by J.B. Jeyaretnam and Tang Liang Hong. At the general election in 1997, the five-man PAP team managed to retain Cheng San GRC with 54.8% of the valid votes.
However, Punggol 21 did not materialise fully as Singapore's economy was affected by the Asian economic crisis in 1997. Although construction began the next year, it was stopped when demand for new flats fell sharply. Plans were again delayed when the construction industry in Singapore experienced financial troubles in 2003. As a result, only some 16,000 flats, out of the 80,000 planned units, have been built as at 2007. There was only one shopping mall in the estate, Punggol Plaza, and there were no recreational facilities like cinemas or swimming pools. As of January 2016, a second shopping mall in the estate, Waterway Point, has opened, and many more recreational facilities have since been planned within the estate.
Under the new plan, Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon, which flank the town, will be dammed up to create a freshwater lake and serve as a Water reservoir. A 4.2-kilometre long, 20-30-metre wide canal was planned to run through the estate, linking both rivers. Work on it started in 2009, and was completed on 26 October 2011. When it was built, there will be recreational facilities like water sports for kayaking and canoeing, gardens and parks with jogging and cycling tracks, , eateries for al fresco dining and a floating island.
The "Punggol 21-plus" project involves 18,000 new HDB and private flats, and about 3,000 new flats will be built in Punggol New Town every year. Punggol New Town is projected to have 96,000 units when fully developed in the long term. Waterfront housing will have stepped courtyards. There will be a promenade on the northern sea front, stretching about . An integrated waterfront commercial and residential development has also been planned at the town centre, which will be built on both banks of the waterway. The site for this project was put up for sale and named Waterway Point with condominium – Watertown. There will also be other facilities within the town centre, which includes a community club, regional library and hawker centre in the future.
Punggol Central will be converted into a tree-lined boulevard with landscaping. Coney Island, on the other hand, was opened to the public in 2015.
| 0–4 | 6,360 | 6,230 | 12,590 | 6.31 |
| 5–9 | 8,100 | 7,640 | 15,740 | 7.89 |
| 10–14 | 7,420 | 6,760 | 14,180 | 7.11 |
| 15–19 | 5,690 | 5,450 | 11,140 | 5.59 |
| 20–24 | 4,580 | 4,360 | 8,940 | 4.48 |
| 25–29 | 4,500 | 4,970 | 9,470 | 4.75 |
| 30–34 | 7,200 | 8,900 | 16,100 | 8.07 |
| 35–39 | 9,510 | 11,310 | 20,820 | 10.44 |
| 40–44 | 10,460 | 11,100 | 21,560 | 10.81 |
| 45–49 | 8,750 | 8,670 | 17,420 | 8.74 |
| 50–54 | 7,290 | 6,770 | 14,060 | 7.05 |
| 55–59 | 5,190 | 4,840 | 10,030 | 5.03 |
| 60–64 | 4,380 | 4,150 | 8,530 | 4.28 |
| 65–69 | 3,270 | 3,710 | 6,980 | 3.50 |
| 70–74 | 2,450 | 2,950 | 5,400 | 2.71 |
| 75–79 | 1,610 | 1,900 | 3,510 | 1.76 |
| 80–84 | 730 | 980 | 1,710 | 0.86 |
| 85–89 | 340 | 530 | 870 | 0.44 |
| 90+ | 120 | 280 | 400 | 0.20 |
| 0–14 | 21,880 | 20,630 | 42,510 | 21.32 |
| 15–64 | 67,550 | 70,520 | 138,070 | 69.24 |
| 65+ | 8,520 | 10,350 | 18,870 | 9.46 |
Punggol has a notably high concentration of children, with 21.32% of the population being 0 to 14 years old, significantly higher than the national average of 13.80%. In contrast, the elderly population is relatively low, with 9.46% of the population aged above 65, nearly half the national average of 18.03%. This is mainly due to Punggol being a relatively new residential area, attracting many young families and new homeowners.
Among the population, 79,880 residents, or 40.1% of the population, live in 4-room HDB Flats, making it the most common type of dwelling. 25,320 residents (8.56%) live in condominiums and other apartments, while 370 residents (0.19%) live in landed properties.
As of 2020, the average household size in Punggol is 3.37. Among the 56,166 households in Punggol, the most common household size is two persons, representing 23.2% of total households. This is closely followed by a household size of four persons, representing 22.8% of all households.
Punggol has a Owner-occupancy rate of 92.5% as of 2020. This is higher than the national home ownership rate of 87.9%, making Punggol the fifth-highest in home ownership rate among all planning areas in Singapore.
Consistent with the rest of Singapore, Punggol has an ethnically diverse population, with a majority Chinese population, constituting 75.63% of the population as of 2020. This is slightly higher than the national proportion of 74.35%, though the proportion has been decreasing over the years. Notably, the proportion of Indian residents in Punggol, 6.99%, is lower than the national average of 8.96%, placing Punggol as one of the planning areas with the lowest proportion of Indian residents in Singapore.
Compared to the national average of 5.00%, there is a notably lower proportion of practising Hindus in Punggol.
43,473 residents (34.9% of the population) in Punggol have attained a university qualification, slightly higher than the national average of 32.1%. In contrast, 8,601 residents, or 6.91% of the population, have no educational qualifications, ranking the 6th lowest in Singapore.
Among the employed residents in Punggol aged 15 years and over, most earn a gross monthly income of between S$3,000 and S$3,999, with 11.5% being in that category. 5.4% earn less than S$1,000 per month, while 4.8% earn above S$15,000 per month.
According to the 2020 Census of Population, most resident households have a monthly household income of $20,000 and over, encompassing 10.8% of all households. The second highest category for monthly household income is between S$15,000 and $17,499, encompassing 7.3% of all households. 6.3% of all households have no employed person.
| 1.33 |
| 1.42 |
| 1.43 |
| 1.11 |
| 1.38 |
| 1.23 |
| 1.46 |
| 9.34 |
Subzones indicated in italics are currently under development
Urban development into the area has been accelerated with the introduction of better transportational options. The Tampines Expressway (TPE) links Punggol New Town up with Singapore's expressway network. The Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway, which provides a direct route to the city area via TPE, was fully opened in September 2008. New roads were also built to ease traffic congestion on Punggol Road.
In terms of public transport, the North-East line opened on 20 June 2003, and Punggol Temporary Bus Interchange on 30 November 2003. The Punggol LRT line's east loop commenced operations on 29 January 2005, and the west loop on 29 June 2014, beginning with Nibong, Sumang and Soo Teck stations. An additional station on the North East line, Punggol Coast, commenced operations in 2024, serving commuters in Punggol North. The bus interchange will be opened in 2025 to serve commuters in Punggol North as Punggol Coast Bus Interchange, these include Services 43, 43M & 118.
Strategically located near Coral Edge LRT station, Punggol Plaza is the first shopping mall in Punggol New Town. Opened in September 2004, it offers residents the convenience of fulfilling all their marketing needs at one place, with an NTUC FairPrice supermarket located on the third floor of the plaza and a food court operated by Koufu on the ground floor. Free shuttle services between Punggol Plaza and Sengkang New Town have been provided since September 2004.
Located beside the Punggol Waterway and Punggol MRT/LRT station, Waterway Point is the largest mall located in Punggol New Town. It is integrated with a town square and a visitors' centre which provides an avenue for residents and the public to learn more about the heritage of Punggol through exhibitions and civic and community events and also features the first underground and largest suburban cineplex in Singapore. The mall had a soft launch on 18 January 2016, and was officially opened on 19 April that year.
Oasis Terraces was announced in October 2015 by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) as part of two new neighbourhood centres in Punggol next to Oasis LRT station, the other one being Northshore Plaza. Oasis Terraces also houses the Punggol Polyclinic which opened on 24 November 2017, offering outpatient medical care, X-ray, physiotherapy, podiatry services and women health services such as screening for cervical and breast cancer. The mall opened on 15 June 2018.
Punggol Waterway Park is a riverine park located along the Punggol Waterway. Opened on 23 October 2011, the park is designed with four themes to cater to residents of all ages. It also provides residents opportunities for leisure activities such as jogging and cycling which can be carried out along the promenade at both sides of the waterway.
Masjid Al Islah is located within the densely populated Punggol New Town at 30 Punggol Field. The mosque serves the Muslim community in Punggol.
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