Whampoa is a housing estate located in the subzone of

Balestier Balestier () is a sub zone located in the planning area of Novena in the Central Region of Singapore. The main road, Balestier Road, links Thomson Road to Serangoon Road and the road continues on as Lavender Street. The area is home to rows ...

, which is a part of

Novena A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pe ...

planning area in Singapore, as defined by the

Urban Redevelopment Authority The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is the national urban planning authority of Singapore, and a statutory board under the Ministry of National Development of the Government of Singapore. Mission The authority was established on 1 April ...

. Within the context of 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), however, Whampoa forms part of the Kallang/Whampoa New Town, together with the various housing precincts located in the adjacent

Kallang Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore. Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the ...

planning area. This makes Kallang/Whampoa the only HDB new town that encompasses two planning areas, namely Novena and Kallang. The area was named after

Hoo Ah Kay Hoo Ah Kay (; 1816 - 27 March 1880), better known as Whampoa (), was a Singaporean businessman and community leader. An immigrant from China to Singapore, he held many high-ranking posts in Singapore, including honourable consul to China, Jap ...

, who was better known as "Whampoa" (his place of birth; ) during the early years of Singapore as a British settlement. He made many contributions to the Straits Settlements. In addition, he could speak both Chinese and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

well, making him an important bridge between the two communities. The respect for his contributions resulted in this area being named after him. The Whampoa area has a significantly higher proportion of elderly and has garnered significant media attention with regard to active ageing programmes.

Facilities

The area is mainly a

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

consisting many blocks of the

(HDB) flats, along with facilities such as a

wet market A wet market (also called a public market or a traditional market) is a marketplace selling fresh foods such as meat, fish, produce and other consumption-oriented perishable goods in a non-supermarket setting, as distinguished from " dry mark ...

and a

hawker centre A hawker centre or cooked food centre is an open-air complex commonly found in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They were built to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stalls that sell different variet ...

, named the Whampoa Makan Place. The Whampoa hawker centre has two food markets, one a night market and the other a day market. There is also a community club, a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, a Chinese temple, a NKF kidney dialysis centre and the Saint Michael's Bus Terminal.

Politics

The Whampoa area has been part of

Jalan Besar GRC Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency is a four-member Group Representation Constituency composed of several city suburbs surrounding the Central Area of Singapore. There are four wards in the GRC: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng, Kolam Ayer, Wha ...

since 1997. However, it was Whampoa SMC between 2011 and 2015. The current Member of Parliament (MP) is

Heng Chee How Heng Chee How ( zh, s=王志豪, p=Wáng Zhìháo; born 1961) is a Singaporean politician, union leader and former police officer who has been serving as Senior Minister of State for Defence since 2018 and Deputy Secretary-General of the Natio ...

References

Novena, Singapore Kallang Central Region, Singapore {{Singapore-geo-stub