Many Singaporeans have called Toa Payoh home for decades, but for three years, but how many know of its histroical significance? Turns out, Toa Payoh is one of the oldest HDB towns and a heartland at the central area of Singapore.
Why Toa Payoh?
Toa Payoh, in the Hokkien dialect, translates as ‘big swamp’ (with ‘Toa’ meaning ‘big’ and ‘Payoh’ meaning ‘swamp’). The name takes reference from the large swampy area that the town used to be.
What Makes Toa Payoh New Town Interesting?
Toa Payoh housing estate is self-contained and has a town centre acting as a focal point for the shopping and entertainment needs of the residents. Industrial developments were also built within the town to provide residents with job opportunities close to home while schools were built within the neighbourhoods.
Toa Payoh continues to be developed until today, one of the many HDB towns that have been built since 1966. In 1995, Toa Payoh underwent an extensive renewal programme that saw many of its original flats being replaced by newer ones.
The town centre was also rejuvenated with better facilities so that it was comparable with the town centres of newer housing estates.
Only about 3% of the HDB flats are one-room flats and 10% are two-room flats. Nonetheless, Toa Payoh town still houses a significant proportion of the 82 percent of Singaporeans living in HDB flats today.
How Many HDB Flats in Toa Payoh?
This centrally located residential town is home to about 107,100 HDB residents, and the HDB manages 37,358 flats in the area (as of 31 March 2017).
Why Should You Live in Toa Payoh?
Accessibility
Toa Payoh is located about 5 miles (8 km) from the city centre, a 600 acres (243 hectares) of land earmarked for Toa Payoh Town was on slightly elevated land.
Leisure
Besides being HDB’s headquarters, HDB hub is also a convenient shopping and dining place for the town’s residents. The many neighbourhood shops and pedestrian mall in Toa Payoh town centre also make the place a bustling environment.
Toa Payoh Town Centre has become increasingly popular. It has a busy atmosphere because, as with many shopping malls of the time, all commercial activities are concentrated along a single mall with high point blocks on either side and major department stores at each end. The shopping mall is actually L-shaped and there are two plazas, one with a branch library and cinema, the other with an area office and a post office. Each plaza has a department store at either end.
Sports and Recreation
The sporting facilities are based in the south central part of Toa Payoh, which is located near the town centre. It consists of 3500 seater Toa Payoh Stadium, where S.League club Balestier Khalsa FC plays its home games. Toa Payoh Sports Hall is located beside the stadium, as well as the Singapore Table Tennis Association Academy. Meanwhile, there is also Toa Payoh Swimming Complex, where national swimmers train at the complex.
Besides these facilities located in the centre of the town, there are also street football courts, gym facilities and basketball courts available at various neighbourhoods of Toa Payoh. Meanwhile, SAFRA clubhouse is located beside Toa Payoh Stadium.
Education
The schools that are located within Toa Payoh include:
Primary schools
- Cedar Primary School
- CHIJ Primary School (Toa Payoh)
- First Toa Payoh Primary School
- Kheng Cheng School
- Pei Chun Public School
- Saint Andrew’s Junior School
Secondary Schools
- Beatty Secondary School
- Cedar Girls’ Secondary School
- CHIJ Secondary School (Toa Payoh)
- First Toa Payoh Secondary School (Merged with Bartley Secondary School in 2016)
- Saint Andrew’s Secondary School
Junior College
- Saint Andrew’s Junior College
Any Future Plans for Toa Payoh?
Toa Payoh is one of the towns selected in 2017 under Remaking Our Heartland (ROH) programme together with Woodlands and Pasir Ris. When completed, the rejuvenation is set to benefit more than half a million residents living in the three towns.
In Toa Payoh, up for virtual-reality (VR) redesign is the void deck of Block 60, Lorong 4. The entire makeover will be implemented within the next five to 10 years.
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Source: Han, HDB, Wikipedia, The Straits Times
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