Punggol

Punggol is a planning area and new town situated on the Tanjong Punggol peninsula in the North-East Region of Singapore. The town directly borders Sengkang to the south and shares riverine boundaries with the planning area of Seletar to the west and Pasir Ris to the east. Bounding the town to the north and north-east is the Straits of Johor, with Coney Island included as a part of the Punggol planning area.
Under the Punggol 21 initiative, there were initial plans in the 1990s to turn the area into an extensive residential town, and development started in 1998. However, the plan slowed throughout the 2000s due to the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and financial troubles within the construction industry in 2003, before construction development resumed during the late 2010s and the 2020s.
In 2007, a new initiative, the Punggol 21 Plus plan, was introduced to redevelop the area into a waterfront town. This led to the development of Punggol Waterway, Singapore's largest man-made waterway. Punggol is further divided into 7 subzones: Coney Island, Matilda, Northshore, Punggol Canal, Punggol Field, Punggol Town Centre and Waterway East.

History

Early history

Located in the vicinity of the Punggol Jetty, Punggol was believed to have existed 200 years ago before Sir Stamford Raffles founded Singapore. The Punggol area used to be a well-established rural district dotted with farmhouses and farm structures, which were serviced by roads and dirt tracks. It was one of the oldest settlements in Singapore. The original settlers were predominantly Malays. The early Chinese immigrants, who settled in Punggol from the mid 19th century onwards, were engaged in plantation work, mainly rubber. As the population of the Chinese increased, many Chinese villagers were then engaged in poultry, pig or fish farming, as well as farm produce. The last pig farm closed down in 1990. Hydroponic non-pollutive vegetable farms and orchid farms used to flourish along the Cheng Lim Farmways and Buangkok Farmways, along with old kampongs and low-rise residential areas. Most of these farms have given way to the high-rise HDB flats of Sengkang New Town and Punggol New Town.
Historically, Punggol was populated mostly by Teochews and Catholics. However, the original settlers were predominantly Malays. The end of Upper Serangoon Road is known to Teochews as kangkar or "river bank" or "river mouth". Ferries were used on the Serangoon River as transport. An old market was also located here. The Catholic missionaries arrived here 140 years ago and set up churches and schools. A Malay kampong, which has since been cleared, could also be found at Tanjong Punggol. At the end of Punggol Port Road, Indonesian and Malaysian fishermen auctioned their catch at the wholesale fish market.

World War II

Between 18 February to 4 March 1942, during World War II, the Hojo Kempei, under the supervision of the Kempeitai in Singapore, rounded up suspected anti-Japanese civilians within the Singapore Chinese population during Sook Ching. On 28 February 1942, around 300-400 Chinese civilians were killed at Punggol Point by the Hojo Kempei firing squads. The victims were part of around 1,000 Chinese males who were previously rounded up during a search of the Chinese community living at Upper Serangoon Road.
The location was declared as a national heritage site with a plaque commemorating the victims of the massacre.

Post-war Punggol

In the 1960s, basic amenities like piped water, electricity, paved roads, and drainage systems were introduced through government and self-help programmes. It was also at this time that television became popular and antennas could be seen installed on many kampong rooftops.
Punggol was also known for its sumptuous seafood and boatels that provided services like docking and renting of boats for boating, water skiing and skindiving lessons. These seafood restaurants and boatels have since been relocated in the mid-1990s to facilitate land reclamation works. Poultry and pig farms were also gradually phased out when redevelopment commenced in the 1970s. The last pig farm closed down in 1990. Land vacated by resettled farmers were then tendered out on short-term leases for non-pollutive agricultural activities, which included hydroponic non-pollutive vegetable and orchid farms that used to flourish along the Cheng Lim Farmways and Buangkok Farmways. These farms existed along with old kampongs and low-rise residential areas. All of these farms have given way to the high-rise HDB flats of Sengkang New Town and Punggol New Town.

Punggol 21

In his National Day Rally speech on 18 August 1996, then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced the Singapore Government's plan to develop Punggol, known as "Punggol 21". Punggol 21 was a new model for housing, which would feature a new concept in housing as a model for new towns in the 21st century. It would have a mix of private houses and high-grade HDB flats grouped into smaller, distinctly designed estates. Each estate would contain between 1,200 and 2,800 units, with a common neighbourhood green. Every housing unit would be located within of the nearest LRT station. Schools, libraries, and community clubs would be clustered for convenience, and there would be three commercial centres, including shopping centres.
A few months after the speech, Punggol 21, which was part of Cheng San Group Representation Constituency then, became an election carrot for the People's Action Party to beat a Workers' Party team led by J.B. Jeyaretnam and Tang Liang Hong. At the general election in 1997, the five-man PAP team managed to retain Cheng San GRC with 54.8% of the valid votes.
However, Punggol 21 did not materialise fully as Singapore's economy was affected by the Asian economic crisis in 1997. Although construction began the next year, it was stopped when demand for new flats fell sharply. Plans were again delayed when the construction industry in Singapore experienced financial troubles in 2003. As a result, only some 16,000 flats, out of the 80,000 planned units, have been built as at 2007. There was only one shopping mall in the estate, Punggol Plaza, and there were no recreational facilities like cinemas or swimming pools. As of January 2016, a second shopping mall in the estate, Waterway Point, has opened, and many more recreational facilities have since been planned within the estate.

Punggol 21-plus

In his National Day Rally speech on 19 August 2007, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong offered a new vision for Punggol New Town, and introduced the "Punggol 21-plus" plan to re-vitalise the town.
Under the new plan, Sungei Punggol and Sungei Serangoon, which flank the town, will be dammed up to create a freshwater lake and serve as a reservoir. A long, wide man-made waterway was planned to run through the estate, linking both rivers. Work on it started in 2009, and was completed on 26 October 2011. When it was built, there will be recreational facilities like water sports for kayaking and canoeing, gardens and parks with jogging and cycling tracks, rooftop gardens, eateries for al fresco dining and a floating island.
The "Punggol 21-plus" project involves 18,000 new HDB and private flats, and about 3,000 new flats will be built in Punggol New Town every year. Punggol New Town is projected to have 96,000 units when fully developed in the long term. Waterfront housing will have stepped courtyards. There will be a promenade on the northern sea front, stretching about. An integrated waterfront commercial and residential development has also been planned at the town centre, which will be built on both banks of the waterway. The site for this project was put up for sale and named Waterway Point with condominium – Watertown. There will also be other facilities within the town centre, which includes a community club, regional library and hawker centre in the future.
Punggol Central will be converted into a tree-lined boulevard with landscaping. Coney Island, on the other hand, was opened to the public in 2015.

Demographics

Population history

Age profile

The data below is from the population report published by the Singapore Department of Statistics as of June 2025.

Age group	Males	Females	Total population	% of total population
0–4	6,010	5,820	11,830	5.79
5–9	7,760	7,450	15,210	7.45
10–14	7,700	7,060	14,760	7.23
15–19	6,070	5,720	11,790	5.78
20–24	4,740	4,540	9,280	4.55
25–29	4,660	4,910	9,570	4.69
30–34	7,170	8,800	15,970	7.82
35–39	9,320	10,890	20,210	9.90
40–44	10,430	11,660	22,090	10.82
45–49	9,170	9,090	18,260	8.94
50–54	7,860	7,370	15,230	7.46
55–59	5,430	5,100	10,530	5.16
60–64	4,660	4,370	9,030	4.42
65–69	3,500	3,860	7,360	3.61
70–74	2,700	3,110	5,810	2.85
75–79	1,840	2,270	4,110	2.01
80–84	740	960	1,700	0.83
85–89	390	570	960	0.47
90+	140	330	470	0.23

Age group	Males	Females	Total population	% of total population
0–14	21,470	20,330	41,800	20.48
15–64	69,510	72,450	141,960	69.54
65+	9,310	11,100	20,410	10.00

The population distribution of Punggol in 2025 demonstrates a relatively young demographic. There is a higher population concentration among younger and middle-aged groups, with the male and female population peaking at the 40-44 age range at 5.11% and 5.71% respectively.
Punggol has a notably high concentration of children, with 20.5% of the population being 0 to 14 years old, significantly higher than the national average of 13.6%. In contrast, the elderly population is relatively low, with 10.0% of the population aged above 65, significantly lower than the national average of 18.8%. This is mainly due to Punggol being a relatively new residential area, attracting many young families and new homeowners.