Kembangan is a subzone and residential precinct located in the town of

Bedok Bedok () is a planning area and matured residential town located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah along the south-eastern coast of the East Region of Singapore. Bedok is bounded by five other planning areas: Paya Lebar to the north ...

in the East Region of Singapore. It consists largely of private residential areas and a small

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

estate along Lengkong Tiga.

Etymology

Kembangan means "expansion" in Malay. The road Jalan Kembangan was officially named in 1932.

History

Kembangan along with the wider

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 ...

district was badly hit by the September 1964 race riots and schools in the area had to be closed for an extended period despite other schools in Singapore reopening after the curfew was lifted. Later in the 1980s, the Malay villages of Kampong Kembangan and Kampong Pachitan, which used to stand at present day Kembangan estate, were demolished to make way for redevelopments in the area. Kampong Kembangan lies approximately to the east of the present day HDB flats in the estate, while Kampong Pachitan lie west of the flats. Several roads in the area were removed or realigned with the redevelopments that were in tandem with the construction of the MRT Line and station there.

Amenities

Kembangan is served by limited amenities like the Kembangan Plaza, which mainly consists of tuition centres, as well as shophouses around the estate. The social welfare of residents are catered for with facilities like the Kwan-In Welfare Free Clinic and the Moral Home for the Disabled in the area. The estate is served by the Kampong Kembangan Community Club, which also serves the wider Kembangan-Chai Chee constituency in the

Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geyl ...

. The Siglap Park Connector which runs to either the Bedok Reservoir Park or the

East Coast Park East Coast Park is a beach and a park encompassing Marine Parade, Bedok and Tampines, along the southeastern coast of Singapore. It was opened in the 1970s, after the Singapore government had completed reclaiming land off the coast at Katon ...

cuts through the area too. There are more amenities located in the nearby Chai Chee and Eunos estates. The area also has multiple places of worship like the Bethesda Chapel, Mangala Vihara Buddhist Temple, Hong San Si Temple (樟宜凤山寺), Masjid Abdul Razak, Masjid Mydin and The Buddhist Union. The area falls under the jurisdiction of the Kampong Kembangan Neighbourhood Police Post (NPP), which is part of the

Bedok Police Division The Bedok Police Division (or 'G' Division) is one of the seven land division of the Singapore Police Force. Bedok Division covers approximately 114 square kilometres of the eastern sector of Singapore. The building became operational on 1 August ...

, and the 2nd

Singapore Civil Defence Force The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is an uniformed organisation in Singapore under the Ministry of Home Affairs that provides emergency services such as firefighting, technical rescue, and emergency medical services, and coordinates nati ...

DIV HQ.

Education

There are currently no public government schools in the Kembangan estate. There is only a government funded school, the MINDS Towner Gardens School. It is the first purpose built special education school in Singapore, established since 1985. It has been operating from that location since December 1997.

Former schools

* Chin Hua School, from before 1936 to c.1970, formerly located at 503A Changi Road * Kembangan Integrated Primary School (KIPS), from 1963 to 1987, formerly located at 2 Lengkong Satu the current site of MINDS School * Madrasah Al-Arabiah Al-Islamiah, it formerly stood at where Muhammadiyah Association is today from c.1980s to 2005 and now stands at its present location in Toa Payoh * Madrasah Alsagoff Al-Arabiah, it occupied the defunct KIPS premises from 1989 to 1992 and now stands at its present location in Kampong Glam * Madrasah Irsyad or Madrasatul Irsyad Al Islamiyah from 1979, it is managed by Masjid Mydin and is not to be confused with the current Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah

Transportation

The estate is served by the

East West MRT line The East West line (EWL) is a high-capacity Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line operated by SMRT in Singapore, running from Pasir Ris station in the east to Tuas Link station in the west, with an additional branch between Changi Airport and Tana ...

at the Kembangan MRT station. There are two bus services that serve the estate. They are service 42, which also serves the neighbouring Opera Estate, and service 135. There are more bus services to be found along the one directional Sims Avenue East that lies south of the estate, or the further Changi Road which runs in the opposite direction towards the city.

References

{{Places in Singapore Places in Singapore Bedok