Kopitiam City
Buangkok, is a neighbourhood located in north eastern Singapore. Whilst its boundaries are vague, the neighbourhood is roughly spread across the Trafalgar and Compassvale subzones of the Hougang and Sengkang Planning Areas respectively, as designated by the URA.
Etymology[]
The namesake road Lorong Buangkok was named Buangkok, meaning "united", after the rubber plantation by the settlers. In 1967, a track off Lorong Buangkok was named Lorong Buangkok Kechil.
History[]
Chinese farmers settled on the land in this vicinity in the early twentieth century. The land belonged partly to the state and partly to Singapore United Rubber Plantation Limited.
When Sengkang was developed in the late 1990s, a large section of Lorong Buangkok was removed for the development of the new town. Today, Lorong Buangkok is truncated into two sections — one located at the west end of Buangkok with its entrance near Yio Chu Kang Road, and the other much shorter section located within Sengkang near Punggol Road.
Buangkok was once filled and overcrowded by kampongs and villages. These were cleared between 2005 and 2009. The last kampong, Kampong Lorong Buangkok is the only remaining village and is conserved.
Public housing estates[]
The public housing estates in Buangkok include a cluster of apartment blocks at Buangkok Link in the northern part of Hougang and the southern part of Compassvale in Sengkang.
The housing estates in Compassvale are as follows:
- Coris - Block 264A-264F, 265-265E, 266A-266C
- Compassvale Arcadia - Block 267A-267B, 268A-268D, 269A-269D
- Tivela - Block 270-270A, 271A-271C
- Atrina - Block 272A-272D, 273A-273D
- Compassvale Helm - Block 274A-274D, 278A-278D
- Aspella - Block 275A-275D, 276, 277A-277D
- Compassvale Ancilla - Block 279A-279C, 280A-280B, 281A-281B, 282A-282C
The housing estates in Buangkok are as follows:
- Buangkok Court - Block 984A-984D, 985A-985D, 986A-986D
- Buangkok Vale - Block 987A-987C, 988A-988C
- Buangkok Square - Block 991A-991B, 992A-992B
- Buangkok Woods - Block 993A-993B, 994A-994C
- Buangkok Tropica - Block 995-995D, 996A-996C
- Buangkok Edgeview - Block 997A-997D
- Buangkok ParcVista - Block 998A-998B, 999-999B
Jewel @ Buangkok is a condominium in Buangkok, Singapore. It is expected to complete in 2016. Shandy Kok wanted to stay in this condominium and was shelved in 2014.
Other condominiums are Esparina Residences, The Quartz, The Rivervale, Park Green, Austville Residences and Riversound Residences.
Integrated Transport Hub[]
Buangkok Bus Interchange will be a new bus interchange in Singapore. It will be opening in 2018/2019 to reduce the overcoming congestion in Sengkang and Hougang Bus Interchange and is under construction since 2014. It will be connected to Buangkok MRT Station.
Buangkok MRT will have an Integrated Transport Hub, with MRT station and bus interchange, adding convenience to the lives of the people living in the area, which is very near to Jeremy Koh's house since the move on 11 September 2018.
According to URA, besides this ITH, Buangkok MRT next time will also have other social and commercial developments. It will have a bus interchange on the first storey, a hawker centre on the second storey and community club that spans three stories. The Chinese newspaper understands that this ITH will have hawker centre, child care centre, senior activity centre, and community centre.
As the focal point and the identity marker for the Buangkok neighbourhood, the URA prioritized thoughtfully-designed public spaces which is integrated with transport and community uses. A tender for the development of land parcel was launched on 28 December 2017, and was awarded to Siena Residential Development at a tender price of $777.78 million on 16 August 2018.
The new Buangkok Bus Interchange will also be integrated with the CapitaMalls' Sengkang Grand Mall and Sengkang Grand Residences, which will be due for completion in 2024, and it is near to Jeremy Koh's house and Terry Wee's house.
Possible bus services that will proceed to Buangkok Bus Interchange do include:
- 101, running from Serangoon to Buangkok Crescent (Loop), and it will be extended to Buangkok.
- 110, running from Compassvale to Changi Airport, can be extended to Buangkok, to provide connections from Buangkok to Changi Airport.
- 114, running from Buangkok to Buangkok Crescent (Loop), in the future, it may be extended to Yio Chu Kang during the opening of TEL Stage 2.
- 883, can be extended from looping at Yishun, to go via Yishun Avenue 2, Lentor Avenue, SLE/TPE, Jalan Kayu and the whole stretch of Buangkok Drive which can complement the service 858 from Yishun to Jalan Kayu.
There are plans to build an "integrated development" next to Buangkok station, which will include residential units, commercial spaces and a future bus interchange. The residential units are now known as Sengkang Grand Residences, the commercial spaces are now known as Sengkang Grand Mall while the future bus interchange is now known as Buangkok Bus Interchange respectively. Buangkok station is near housing estates and Palm View Primary School. Tenants for Sengkang Grand will include Chateraise, Itacho Sushi, Cotton On ITH, FairPrice Finest, Uniqlo, 3T Mobile, 6 Elements Hair Spa, Baleno, Bossini, IPPUDO, Jean Yip, KOI The, LALU, McDonald's, SK Jewellery, Sushi Express and Jollibee.
Transport[]
Buangkok MRT Station on the North East Line of the Singapore MRT serves the residents of Buangkok. It was opened on 15 January 2006. In addition, bus services 101 and 329 plies along the western part of Buangkok town. Bus service 329 was introduced on 9 July 2017.
Buangkok Drive[]
Buangkok Drive is a road that was completed in the second half of 1999 from Buangkok Green to Punggol Road, as the road shortens the travel drive from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 to Punggol Road. The second section was opened all the way to Upper Serangoon Road on December 2001 together with the extension of Upper Serangoon Road all the way to Punggol East which was opened in 2002. Buangkok East Drive was subsequently opened in 2009, all the way to the Tampines Road. The last Buangkok Drive extension, from Buangkok Green to Yio Chu Kang Road will start construction in 2017 for completion in 2019. This is under Contract 16BI030.
On 23 October 2005, bus service 43 plies through the road for the first time between Sengkang Central and Sengkang East Road, followed by on 20 September 2015, bus service 102 plies through the road for the first time between Upper Serangoon Road and Sengkang Central. Finally on 9 September 2019, bus service 43e plies through Buangkok East Drive as a public bus for the first time.
Sengkang Central[]
Sengkang Central is a road that is completed in 2002 from Buangkok Drive to Sengkang East Avenue and Compassvale Drive, also connecting Hougang Avenue 6. Bus service 27 also plies through the road for the first time since 29 December 2002, with the opening of the stretch of North East Line in 2003.