Punggol 5.9

Punggol is a region next to the north eastern part of Singapore.

The area is being developed under the initiative named Punggol 21. A new residential town, Punggol New Town is coming up in and around the region, the work for which has already begun in the southern stretches of the region bordering the neighboring Sengkang New Town.

The oldest reference of the town is found in the map of Singapore developed by Franklin and Jackson in 1828. There the region Punggol Point or Tanjong Punggol has been marked as Tanjong Rangon. Punggol is quite often spelt as Ponggol which in Malay literally means throwing pieces of sticks on a fruit tree to bring them down. Ponggol is also connected to the festival of Pongal, celebrated by the Tamilian Hindus on the first day of the month of Thai. It also refers to a sweet dish made by Tamilians.

Both the names Punggol as well as the older name Ponggol are used. The new name Punggol features in the Punggol Road and other various facilities of the newly developed Punggol New Town. On the other hand, the ancient name Ponggol is being still used for the names of two streets- Ponggol Twenty-Fourth Avenue and Ponggol Seventeenth Avenue.

Initially the area around Punggol was a rural one. There were many farm houses and farm structures making it a well established rural district of Singapore. Many interconnecting roads and dirt tracks connected the various areas of the Punggol region. Several Chinese villagers operated poultry and pig farms, while some others were engaged with fish rearing, plantations and farm produce. The last pig farm was shut down lately in 1990. The region used to flourish with orchid farms and hydroponic non-pollutive vegetable farm. These were present along the Cheng Lim Farm ways and Buangkok Farm ways, along with the old kampongs and other low-rise residential areas. Most of them today have given way to high- rise multiplexes and HDB flats of Sengkang New Town and Punggol New Town.

If we look down into the history, Teochews and Catholics were the two most populated regions of Punggol. The upper Serangoon Road was known as askangkar which meant river bank or river mouth. The mode of transport was the ferry that was used on the Serangoon River. There was an ancient market place as well. Several Catholic missionaries had arrived here around 140 years back and set up churches and schools. A Malay kampong that has been cleared off now exists at Tanjong Punggol. Fisherman of Indonesian and Malaysian origin used to sell their fish on a wholesale basis at the extreme point of the Punggol Port Road.

Punggol is famous for its seafood restaurants that are leading the path to the growth and development of new sea sports. Tourists come to the region for boating, skin diving and water skiing. Punggol is also known to have numerous primary and secondary schools that have earned world recognition.