Tampines
Tampines (/tæmpəˈniːs/) is a planning area and residential town in the geographical region of Tanah Merah located along the south-eastern coast of the East Region of Singapore. The planning area is bordered by Bedok and Paya Lebar to the west, Pasir Ris to the north, Changi to the east and the Singapore Straits to the south. Tampines New Town is located in the northern portion of Tampines planning area. Tampines is the third largest new town in Singapore by area, covering over 2089 hectares of land and also is the third most populated new town, following Bedok and Jurong West. It is the regional centre for the East Region.
Tampines | |
|---|---|
| Other transcription(s) | |
| • Chinese | 淡滨尼 |
| • Malay | Tampines |
| • Tamil | தெம்பினிஸ் |
        From top left to right: Expo MRT station, IKEA outlet at Tampines North, Tampines Bus Interchange, East West MRT Line flyover near Tampines MRT station, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Expo, Temasek Polytechnic, Tampines Avenue 5 | |
.svg.png)  Tampines Location of Tampines within Singapore | |
| Coordinates: 1°20′58.53″N 103°57′24.44″E | |
| Country |  |
| Region | East Region
|
| CDCs | |
| Town councils |
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| Constituencies |
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| Government | |
| • Mayors | North East CDC
South East CDC |
| • Members of Parliament | Aljunied GRC
East Coast GRC Tampines GRC |
| Area | |
| • Total | 20.89 km2 (8.07 sq mi) |
| • Residential | 5.49 km2 (2.12 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 256,730 |
| • Density | 12,000/km2 (32,000/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | Official
Colloquial
|
| Postal district | 16, 18 |
| Dwelling units | 66,599 |
| Projected ultimate | 110,000 |
History
In the past, Tampines was covered by forests, swamp and sand quarries. Ironwood trees, or tempinis in Malay, grew abundantly. The area was part of a military training area until about 1987.
The name Tampines goes back to the Franklin and Jackson map of 1828. It is named after Sungei Tampines, which in turn got its name from the tempinis trees (Malay for Streblus elongatus) which were said to be growing by it.
The oldest street in the area, Tampines Road, dates to 1864 when it was a cart tract. At the turn of the 20th century, Tampines was a rubber plantation. Tampines was also home to the sand quarry for a long time. Among the plantations were Teo Tek Ho and Hun Yeang estates.
The new town started in 1978. Construction began for Neighbourhoods 1 and 2 and was completed between 1983 and 1987 although they were given priority. Neighbourhoods 8 and 9 started in 1985–1989, followed by Neighbourhood 5 which was completed in 1989 with the Tampines Town Centre. Neighbourhood 4 was completed with the new Tampines North Division between 1986 and 1988. Tampines Town was at the fast-paced expansion, that breaks it into Tampines East, Tampines West, Tampines North and Tampines Changkat divisions.
For the Singapore MRT plans, they showed "Tampines North" and "Tampines South" since the planning stages which is due to the similar townships from 1979 to 1982, before they were renamed respectively in 1985 to Tampines and Simei.
New construction methods expedited the development of the town's infrastructure. More attractive designs, colours and finishings were incorporated into Tampines, compared to earlier public housing which consisted of uniform slabs of concrete laid out row after row with more thought given to function than form. The Town Centre was planned as an hourglass shape to create a unique urban design form for the town.[4] The Housing and Development Board (HDB) managed the construction of the town until 1991, when it handed the reins over to the Tampines Town Council. The Town Council is run by grassroot leaders and the residents themselves.
The Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) of the United Nations awarded the World Habitat Award to Tampines, which was selected as a representative of Singapore's new towns, on 5 October 1992. The award was given in recognition of an outstanding contribution towards human settlement and development.
Neighbourhoods 3 and 7 were only fully completed in 1997, and the constituencies had been reformed to include the new Tampines Central division. Construction was paused until the developments of Tampines Central were started in 2010, which includes The Premiere @ Tampines, Tampines GreenLeaf, Centrale 8, Tampines Trilliant and Citylife @ Tampines, including some of the other leftover pockets of residential developments such as Tampines GreenTerrace, Arc @ Tampines, Q Bay Residences and The Santorini.
Neighbourhood 6, which is also known as Tampines North New Town, has started construction with the first Build-To-Order (BTO) flats Tampines GreenRidges being announced at the end of November 2014. Tampines GreenRidges is also part of the first phase of development of the Tampines North New Town's Park West District, which is the first district to be constructed in the Tampines North New Town development.
Tampines Court,[5] had been en-bloc since July 2017 and all residents vacated their premises by 12 December 2018. It is a former HUDC flat that was privatised in 2002.[6] The upcoming condominium is Treasure at Tampines.[6]
Amenities
Tampines, which includes Tampines North and Simei is home to over 237,800 residents living in 152,000 HDB flats spread out over 20.89 square kilometres:
- Tampines North
- Tampines East
- Tampines Changkat
- Tampines Central
- Tampines West
- Simei
- Others (Mainly commercial and industrial parks, with no nearby residential areas)
- Tampines Retail Park
- Tampines Industrial Park A
- Tampines LogisPark
- Tampines Wafer Fab Park
- Tampines Hi-Tech Park
- Tampines Advance Display Park
- Changi Business Park
- Changi South Business Park
- Singapore Expo
Tampines Regional Centre
The urban planning policy of Singapore is to create partially self-sufficient towns, in terms of commercial needs, to relieve strain on traffic drawn to the city centre. Thus, an array of facilities are provided primarily for residents in the new towns. Tampines is one of Singapore's four regional centres (along with Woodlands, Jurong East and future Seletar), under the plan of the Urban Redevelopment Authority. As a result, the Tampines Regional Centre serves the Tampines residents and the entire East Region.
Commercial services
Retail shopping in the Tampines Regional Centre is done at three main shopping malls: Tampines Mall, Century Square and Tampines 1. Commercial tenants of the shopping centres include restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, cinemas, bookstores, jewellery and gift shops.
While outside of Tampines Town there is also Eastpoint Mall, Singapore Expo and Changi City Point nearby.
On 30 November 2006, IKEA opened its second outlet in Singapore at Tampines Retail Park, adjacent to Courts and Giant, together these three are the first to have warehouse retail stores in Singapore.
On 9 April 2009, UNIQLO opened its first outlet in Singapore at Tampines 1.[7]
Community services
The Tampines Regional Library was located at Tampines Central and has now moved its facilities to the Our Tampines Hub.
Parks
The three main parks in the Tampines Town are Sunplaza Park, at Tampines Avenue 7 and 9; Tampines Bike Park (which officially closed on 17 September 2014, as to make way for the future developments of the future Tampines North New Town.[8]), at the junction of Tampines 9 and 7; and NParks latest nature park as of 24 April 2011, Tampines Eco Green,[9] at the junction of Tampines 12 and 9. All of the parks are close to each other and interconnected by a walking and bicycle path..
The other parks in Tampines Town are mainly community parks– Tampines North Park, Tampines Leisure Park, Tampines Central Park, Tampines Park, Festival Park, Tampines Green, Tampines Tree Garden, and some neighbourhood parks. Occasionally, community-related events are held at Festival Park.
There's also another unofficial park in Tampines Town, it is Tampines Quarry Park, which originally was a sand quarry. As time passed, rain water filled the quarry. It is the only park in Tampines that is not equipped with any facilities, but this park is still popular among residents living nearby. There are no signs to the park and there is no entrance as it is hidden among the greenery. There are hidden pathways to enter.
In future, there will be mainly 2 new main parks in Tampines Town, namely Tampines Boulevard Park and Tampines North Quarry Park which will be located at the future Tampines North New Town. There will also be more new neighbourhood parks added in the future in both Tampines Town and Tampines North New Town together with the developments in the area.
Our Tampines Hub
Our Tampines Hub[10][11] is a new development in Tampines. Construction began in June 2013 and it opened on 9 November 2016. It is located at the site of the former Tampines Stadium along Avenue 4 and 5, together with the swimming pool.
It is built for the residents of Tampines and provides a community space where residents can gather, interact and bond with others from the community. Facilities available include a community centre, sports and recreation centres, swimming pools, bowling alleys, karaoke facilities, information centres and several offices. The Tampines Regional Library was also relocated here.
Politics
Originally, Tampines was under the Tampines Single Member Constituency when it was still under development up until 1988, where its population was grown and made into Tampines Group Representation Constituency. The National Solidarity Party (and later Singapore Democratic Alliance in the 2001 and 2006 elections) had always contested in the town in all the general elections except in 1997, when the party was disqualified, but the ruling People's Action Party won in every election they contested.
Since 2020, Tampines was divided into three Group Representation Constituencies, namely the namesake Tampines (central and regional centre), Aljunied (Bedok Reservoir and Temasek Polytechnic) and East Coast (the subregion of Simei). Tampines was led by the PAP, among which the MPs include Minister of the Environment and Water Resources and Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli, with the exception of Aljunied being led by the Workers' Party of Singapore.
From 2011 to 2020, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat was leading the area, before transferring to East Coast GRC. Similarly, from 2001 to 2020, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC also surrounds the area of IKEA and Giant hypermarket, before the remaining parts of Tampines were transferred to Tampines GRC.
Transportation
Road network
A network of expressways, namely the Pan-Island Expressway, East Coast Parkway and Tampines Expressway, and arterial roads allows easy movement within the town and link it to other parts of the island. Tampines Avenue 10, an arterial road, forms the start/end of the Outer Ring Road System, a semi-expressway.
Mass rapid transit
There are currently 6 MRT stations that serve the planning area across 2 lines, the East West Line and Downtown Line. Both lines have two interchange stations at Tampines MRT station and Expo MRT station on the Changi Airport Branch line. The stations of the Downtown Line were opened on 21 October 2017 as part of DTL3. The 6 stations are:
- EW2 DT32 Tampines
- EW3 Simei
- DT31 Tampines West
- DT33 Tampines East
- DT34 Upper Changi
- DT35 CG1 Expo
Xilin MRT Station will be a future station as part of DTL3 extension, will be completed in 2024 in tandem with the opening of the Stage 4 of the Thomson-East Coast Line.
Tampines North MRT Station will be the newest future station added to Tampines. It will be located in Tampines North New Town, and it is part of the stations in Stage 1 of the Cross Island Line, which will be completed in 2029.
Bus
There are two bus interchanges, the Tampines Bus Interchange and Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange. Tampines Bus Interchange has been operating since 1983 as a bus terminus and later on it moved to Tampines Central 1 in 1987. Tampines Concourse Bus Interchange was opened on 18 December 2016 to increase the capacity of the existing Tampines Bus Interchange.[12][13]
A third bus interchange, Tampines North Bus Interchange, is currently under planning and will be part of the Tampines North Integrated Transport Hub (ITH).[14]
Changi Business Park Bus Terminal is a bus terminal in the northern part of Changi Business Park. It opened on 20 December 2015, and houses 2 BSEP bus services.
This is a list of bus interchanges, bus hubs, and coach bays in Tampines. Bus-stops are excluded from the list.
EducationThe eleven primary schools, nine secondary schools, three tertiary institutions, and two international school to provide education for Tampines residents and those living in the region. There are plans to add new schools in Tampines due to a high demand in the East Region of the city-state of Singapore. Primary schools
Tertiary institutionsSecondary schoolsInternational schools
References
External links
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