Choa Chu Kang

For other uses of "CCK", see CCK (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Phua Chu Kang.

Choa Chu Kang

English	Choa Chu Kang
Chinese	蔡厝港
(Pinyin	Càicuògǎng)
(Hokkien POJ	Chhòa-chhù-káng)
(Teochew Peng'im	Chùa Chu Kăng)
Malay	Choa Chu Kang
Tamil	சுவா சூ காங்
Ruling party
Places of Interest

Coordinates: 1°23′N 103°45′E / 1.383°N 103.75°E / 1.383; 103.75

Choa Chu Kang New Town
Total area:	5.83 km²
Residential area:	3.07 km²
Dwelling units:	39,173
Projected ultimate:	62,000
Population:	136,200

Typical HDB flats in Choa Chu Kang

Choa Chu Kang (officially recognized as the Choa Chu Kang New Town and historically known as Chua Chu Kang) is a major residential town and neighbourhood and is a suburban area in the West Region of Singapore. Originally a kampong village, the area has been rapidly developed under the ambition of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to transform it into a modern township. The town now comprises seven neighbourhoods, including three large ones: Choa Chu Kang, Yew Tee and Teck Whye.

Etymology and history

HDR image of the Choa Chu Kang Town Centre.

Choa Chu Kang's name is derived from its historical core at the former site of Chua Chu Kang Village located near the junction of Choa Chu Kang Road and Jalan Sungei Poyan, currently occupied by the grounds of the National Shooting Centre which comes under the purview of Singapore Shooting Association. The name began to be applied to the general area around the village when Choa Chu Kang Road, a main arterial road linking the village to Upper Bukit Timah Road towards the east was built.

The name "Choa Chu Kang" is derived from the Teochew word "kang chu". In the nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants to plant gambier and pepper along the river banks of Choa Chu Kang, although many migrated to Johor to the north at the encouragement of the Temenggong of Johor. The plantation owners were known as Kangchu - the word "kang" means river and "chu" means "owner" or "lord", referring to the headman in charge of the plantations in the area. "Choa" is the clan name of the first headman.

Choa Chu Kang became a small rural Chinese district. It was a diverse area with old kampong housing and rubber plantations. Residents had to depend on boats or bullock carts for transportation. Among the few villages which sprang up were Kampong Belimbing and Chua Chu Kang Village. Interestingly, most of the inhabitants belonged to the Teochew dialect group. The early Teochew settlers were mainly farmers growing gambier and pepper. The Hokkiens, who moved in later, established pineapple, rubber and coconut plantations as well as vegetable farms and poultry farms. In the early days, tigers used to roam in the area. The last tiger of Singapore was shot here in the 1930s.

The old attap houses, street hawkers and Chinese kampongs have since disappeared from Choa Chu Kang. Choa Chu Kang has since evolved into a modern housing estate with ample community and recreational facilities.

The name Choa Chu Kang is used for Choa Chu Kang Road, Choa Chu Kang New Town, and its nearby facilities. However, the original name Chua Chu Kang is retained in the cemetery area.

Choa Chu Kang New Town

Choa Chu Kang New Town is a new town built in the north-western part of Singapore. An expansion of the existing Teck Whye Estate at the junction of Choa Chu Kang Road and Woodlands Road, it currently comprises seven neighbourhoods and incorporating Teck Whye Estate as part of neighbourhood one.

It lies in Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency.

Politics

When the new town of Choa Chu Kang was built by expanding Teck Whye Estate near the other end of Choa Chu Kang Road at its junction with Upper Bukit Timah Road and Woodlands Road to the north, the place name began to be applied to a much larger area, especially when political divisions like the Choa Chu Kang ward applied to the entire northwest sector of the country during some editions of the Parliamentary elections. Today, the Chua Chu Kang Single Member Constituency as at the general election of 2001 largely covers only the area in Choa Chu Kang New Town, while the rest largely falls under the jurisdiction of the Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency.

Education

Regent Secondary School.

There are currently eight primary schools and six secondary schools in Choa Chu Kang New Town along with a junior college. Choa Chu Kang is home to the newest addition to the ITE West with an ITE College constructed and completed by 2010.

Primary Schools

• South View Primary School
• Concord Primary School
• Unity Primary School
• Chua Chu Kang Primary School
• Teck Whye Primary School
• De La Salle School
• Kranji Primary School
• Yew Tee Primary School

Secondary Schools

• Bukit Panjang Government High School
• Chua Chu Kang Secondary School
• Kranji Secondary School
• Regent Secondary School
• Teck Whye Secondary School
• Unity Secondary School

Tertiary Education Institutions

• Pioneer Junior College
• ITE College West

Transportation facilities

City planners plan for public transport to eventually become the preferred mode of transport in the future. The government of Singapore ideally desires environmental towns, using public transport to reduce pollution caused by heavy road traffic. Choa Chu Kang is part of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's focus for realising this urban planning model and is still undergoing an expansion of its town. As Choa Chu Kang is relatively distant from the city centre at the Central Area, an efficient, high-volume and high-speed public transport system is also preferred to using road networks.

The Choa Chu Kang MRT Station, Choa Chu Kang LRT Station and Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange are conveniently connected to one another in the town centre to allow seamless travel for the residents of Choa Chu Kang New Town across the different available modes of public transport.

Public Transport

North South MRT Line

Main article: Choa Chu Kang MRT Station

The Choa Chu Kang MRT Station is a major transport hub.

Choa Chu Kang New Town is linked to the Central Area and to the other lines on the MRT/LRT system (to the East-West Line at Jurong East Station, to the Circle Line at Bishan Station, and the North East Line at Dhoby Ghaut Station) through the North South Line (NSL) at Choa Chu Kang Station (NS4) located at Choa Chu Kang Town Centre. It usually takes an hour for passengers to travel from Choa Chu Kang to the Central Area. The station is currently operated by SMRT Corporation.

Main article: Yew Tee MRT Station

Yew Tee Station (NS5), the other station along NSL in Choa Chu Kang New Town, serves the housing developments in Yew Tee, the industrial estate of Sungei Kadut, and the northern part of Choa Chu Kang New Town. The station started operations on 10 February 1996. Like Choa Chu Kang, it usually takes an hour for passengers to travel from Yew Tee to the Central Area when using the station and it is operated by SMRT Corporation.

Bukit Panjang LRT Line

Main article: Bukit Panjang LRT Line

A car on the Bukit Panjang LRT.

The intra-town Bukit Panjang Light Rail Transit (LRT) system is a 7.8 km light rail line that serves to link residents to the town centre and to the nearby town of Bukit Panjang, hence the line's name. It is a fully automated system, and its rolling stock is supplied under the design of the Bombardier Innovia APM 100. The system is currently operated by SMRT Corporation.

Station names are:

• BP1/NS4 - Choa Chu Kang (interchange station with North South MRT Line)
• BP2 - South View
• BP3 - Keat Hong
• BP4 - Teck Whye
• BP5 - Phoenix
• BP6 - Bukit Panjang (unofficially to be connected station with Downtown MRT Line, shuttle train available to Ten Mile Junction)^[1]
• BP7 - Petir
• BP8 - Pending
• BP9 - Bangkit
• BP10 - Fajar
• BP11 - Segar
• BP12 - Jelapang
• BP13 - Senja
• BP14 - Ten Mile Junction (shuttle station, currently not in operation)

Bus Services

Main article: Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange

See also, SMRT Service 307

The town's bus interchange.

Bus services are available at the Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange which is connected to the Choa Chu Kang MRT/LRT Station and the town's central shopping mall Lot One Shoppers' Mall. It was opened in 1990 with 12 bus services, all operated under SMRT Corporation. Bus services at the interchange allow residents from Choa Chu Kang New Town to travel to other parts of the country, including the Central Area while some are specifically used to travel around the Choa Chu Kang town and even to Yew Tee.

The bus interchange currently only has 12 services; 11 of which are SMRT Buses (including 3 intra-town services), the other a special free shuttle to Qian Hu Fish Farm. Typically passenger traffic is often very high in morning and evening peak hours.

Like other bus interchanges in Singapore, the interchange is still and was originally constructed as an open-air structure. However, the government has announced plans to redevelop the interchange and its surroundings in the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Master Plan in 2003.^[2] The interchange will hence be the seventh interchange to undergo air-condition upgrading works.

A typical SMRT bus about to enter the bus interchange.

The following bus services are available at the Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange:

Service	Destination	Notes
SMRT Buses Trunk Services
67	Tampines Bus Interchange	Service 67A operates in the morning peak hours and ends at Hwa Chong Institution
172	Boon Lay Bus Interchange
188	HarbourFront Bus Interchange
188E	HarbourFront Bus Interchange	Service 188E only departs at 0708 and 0723 on Weekdays only.
188R	Resorts World Sentosa	Operates on Weekends and Public Holidays (0700 to 2200)
190	New Bridge Road Bus Terminal
300	Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3 (Loop)	Intra-town service
302	Choa Chu Kang Crescent (Loop)	Intra-town service
307(E)	Choa Chu Kang Street 62/Teck Whye Lane (Loop)	Intra-town service,
925	Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange	Operates on Weekdays and Saturdays (0600 to 1930)
927	Singapore Zoo (Loop)
985	Lorong 1 Geylang Bus Terminal
SMRT Buses NightRider Services
NR3	North Canal Road (Loop)	Operates at late night hours only
Qian Hu Fish Farm Shuttle Services
QH Shuttle	Qian Hu Fish Farm (Loop)	Free Shuttle

Other services passing through the neighbourhood include:

• SMRT Service 180 -- Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange to Boon Lay Bus Interchange along Choa Chu Kang Road
• SMRT Service 187 -- Woodlands Regional Interchange to Boon Lay Bus Interchange along Choa Chu Kang Road
• SBS Service 160 -- Jurong East Bus Interchange to Kotaraya II Terminal
• SBS Premium Service 556—Choa Chu Kang North 7 to Fullerton Road (Opp Fullerton Hotel)
• SBS Premium Service 557—Choa Chu Kang Ave 3 to Fullerton Road (Opp Fullerton Hotel)
• SMRT Premium Service 590—Choa Chu Kang Crescent to Shenton Way Bus Terminal
• SMRT Service 975 -- Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange to Lim Chu Kang Bus Terminal (Loop)
• SBS Service NightOwl 3N -- Marina Centre Bus Terminal to Choa Chu Kang North 5(Loop)
• Shuttle Service to Farmart
• Shuttle Service to IKEA Alexandra

Premium services operate at 7.45am on weekdays, excluding Public Holidays.

Road network

The northern part of the much-used Bukit Timah Road (called Upper Bukit Timah Road) connects Choa Chu Kang residents to other parts of the country.

The Kranji Expressway (KJE) links Choa Chu Kang New Town up with Singapore's expressway network. With the KJE, drivers can change onto the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) which in turn, is connected to the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) which travels to the Central Area and the eastern parts of Singapore. As the town is surrounded by the towns of Bukit Panjang, Bukit Batok, Bukit Gombak and southern Woodlands, many roads (old and new) have been constructed to link Choa Chu Kang into other towns which eventually allows residents to other parts of the country by either bus, train, car or any other reliable means of transportation.

The following roads connect the central town of Choa Chu Kang to the nearby towns of Bukit Batok and Bukit Panjang:

• Bukit Batok Road (links Choa Chu Kang with Bukit Batok and Jurong East)
• Choa Chu Kang Road
• Upper Bukit Timah Road (northern section connects with Choa Chu Kang Road)
• Teck Whye Avenue
• Bukit Panjang Road
• Bricklands Road (extended in 2007)

The following roads connect the central town of Choa Chu Kang to its northern counterpart neighbourhood, Yew Tee:

• Choa Chu Kang Way
• Choa Chu Drive (parallel to the track between Choa Chu Kang and Yew Tee MRT stations)

Amenities

Lot One, in the Town Centre of Choa Chu Kang and next to the bus interchange and MRT station is a major hub for Choa Chu Kang residents.

Due to Choa Chu Kang being one of the major towns in the western region of Singapore, there are many amenities located around, particularly in the town centre. Since the northern part of Choa Chu Kang is served by the Yew Tee MRT Station (NS5), there is also a major shopping mall named Yew Tee Square which was constructed to serve the residents in Yew Tee.

The Lot One Shoppers' Mall is the most popular hub for Choa Chu Kang residents and visitors alike as it is located in the main town centre and has the widest variety of shops in the town. It was built in 1997 and is presently managed by CapitaLand. It is conveniently located next to Choa Chu Kang MRT Station and the Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange, making transportation to the mall much easier. There are 6 floors with an underground carpark, a cinema, and 148 retail outlets. The mall has undergone enhancement works to create a four-storey retail extension block measuring over 16,500 sq ft (1,530 m2). The works, which commenced in July 2007, was completed by end-2008.

Commercial

The Choa Chu Kang Centre is beside Lot One.

• Lot One -- the main shopping mall by CapitaMall and a major hub in Choa Chu Kang
• Yew Tee Square -- the second main shopping mall and a major hub in the northern part of Choa Chu Kang in Yew Tee.
• Yew Tee Point—a small shopping mall by Frasers CentrePoint serving residents in Yew Tee.
• Junct10n, or Junction 10—a shopping mall by Far East Organization, under construction, at the site of the former shopping mall Ten Mile Junction and former LRT Station of the same name.
• Choa Chu Kang Centre—a commercial building for tutorial lessons, money managing, and business of the town.
• Keat Hong Shopping Centre—a small neighbourhood's "town centre" serving residents in Keat Hong.
• Limbang Shopping Centre—a small HDB shopping mall serving residents in northern Teck Whye.
• Sunshine Place—a small HDB shopping mall serving residents in western Choa Chu Kang.
• Teck Whye Shopping Centre—a small neighbourhood's town centre serving residents in central Teck Whye.

Medical

• Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic—a major clinic of the town, newly renovated, finished late 2010.

Parks, Recreational and Sport venues

• Choa Chu Kang Park -- a major park of the town located in the northern part of Choa Chu Kang.
• Choa Chu Kang Stadium -- the town's major stadium which became a venue for practising during the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
• Choa Chu Kang Swimming Complex—a sub-venue of Choa Chu Kang stadium located in Yew Tee and the town's only swimming complex.
• Tembusu Park
• Limbang Park
• Choa Chu Kang Mega Playground

Private Housing & Condominiums

• Comfort Garden
• Mi Casa (under construction)
• Northvale
• The Warren
• Palm Gardens
• Regent Grove
• The Quintet
• The Tennery (under construction)
• Villa Verde
• Windermere
• Yew Mei Green
• Yew Tee Residences

Trivia

In 2002, The Amazing Race came to a Housing Development Board flat in Choa Chu Kang to collect a clue from Singapore actor Gurmit Singh, who posed as Phua Chu Kang from the TV show Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd.

References

1. ^ "Downtown Line 2 Station Sites Named Bukit Timah residents get faster access to City and Marina Bay area". Land Transport Authority. 2008-07-15. http://app.lta.gov.sg/corp_press_content.asp?start=1969. 
2. ^ http://www.ura.gov.sg/ppd/gazettedmp2003/index-frontmp2003.htm