Singapore Civil Defence Force Headquarters Main Office Tower

Kampong Ubi, also known as Ubi Estate, is a subzone located in the planning area of

Geylang Geylang is a planning area and township located on the eastern fringe of the Central Region of Singapore, bordering Hougang and Toa Payoh in the north, Marine Parade in the south, Bedok in the east, and Kallang in the west. Geylang is perha ...

in the Central Region of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. It lies within a somewhat rhombic piece of land bounded by Airport Road at the north, the

Pan-Island Expressway The Pan Island Expressway (Abbreviated as: PIE) is the oldest and longest expressway in Singapore. It is also Singapore's longest road. The expressway runs from the East Coast Parkway near Changi Airport in the east to Tuas in the west and ha ...

at the south, Eunos Link at the east and Paya Lebar Road at the west. The area was formerly a Malay

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

Etymology and early history

The Malay word ''Ubi'' refers to the

tapioca Tapioca (; ) is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant (''Manihot esculenta,'' also known as manioc), a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America ...

plant. Malays used to grow small tapioca farms in the area. Kampong Ubi ( Jawi: كامڤوڠ اوبي) was a rather large village even for its time. The first settlements began at the junction of Jalan Ubi and Changi Road, and quickly expanded northwards to the areas designated as the Kampong Ubi subzone today. All the roads and side-lanes within the kampong were named after vegetables, e.g. Jalan Kobis ( cabbage), Jalan Bayam ( spinach), Jalan Tauge (

bean sprouts Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth. In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...

) as these areas used to have many of these plants. These road names became expunged with the development of the area. Due to housing and industrial developments sometime in the late 80s, villages were resettled to nearby Bedok and Bedok Reservoir. Most of the Jalan Ubi main road was expunged, leaving a short lane in the Eunos area.

Ubi Estate

Today, Ubi Estate is mainly an industrial area with only the south-eastern corner developed for residential use with about 50 blocks of flats built by the

Housing and Development Board The Housing & Development Board (HDB) (; ms, Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan; ta, வீடமைப்பு வளர்ச்சிக் கழகம்) or often referred to as the Housing Board, is a statutory board under the M ...

(HDB). The industrial estate has a high concentration of automotive related businesses with many major dealerships having their showrooms and workshops there. Other related businesses such as body-and-paint shops also have their workshops there, along with other

small and medium-sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

. A few factories of multi-national firms stand alongside purpose-built flatted-factories of the Jurong Town Corporation and other private developers. Currently, two schools are located in Ubi. They are

Manjusri Secondary School Manjusri Secondary School (MJR) is a co-educational government-aided secondary school in Ubi, Singapore. Named after the bodhisattva Manjusri, it was established by the Singapore Buddhist Federation in 1982 and affiliated to two primary school ...

and Maha Bodhi School. Two estates are currently located in Ubi, namely View@Ubi and Ubi Greenville. By 2022, a new BTO estate by HDB called Ubi Grove will be built, on a plot of land next to Manjusri Secondary School. There is also a reserved plot of land along Ubi Road 3 for a place of worship. There are Chinese temples located along Arumugam Road and Paya Lebar Road within Kampong Ubi, like Sheng Hong Temple, Hong Hian Keng Temple, Kew Huang Keng Temple, Kim Hong Temple, Cheng Hong Siang Tng, Da Sheng Kong Temple, Sze Hock Keng Temple, Tien Sen Tua Temple and Fung Huo Yuan Temple. There are also two Chinese temples located at Ubi Road 4, Shi Niu Dong Temple and Sze Cheng Keng Temple. Teochew Temple & Funeral Parlour is located at Ubi Road 4. It is managed by

Ngee Ann Kongsi The Ngee Ann Kongsi () is a charitable foundation located in Singapore and governed by the Ngee Ann Kongsi Ordinance of 1933. It is one of many Overseas Chinese Kongsi, or clan associations, that were set up by immigrants from China in the late ...

, and catered for Teochew community and general public.

Transportation

Ubi MRT station Ubi MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Downtown Line (DTL). Located in Geylang planning area, Singapore, the station is near the junction of Ubi Avenue 1 and Ubi Avenue 2. The station serves mainly industrial ...

on the Downtown Line serves the residents and industrial workers in the estate. It opened on 21 October 2017.

Other organizations

* ComfortDelGro Driving Centre * SPF Traffic Police Department Headquarters

References

Places in Singapore {{Singapore-geo-stub