Walks through Tanglin Halt

In a previous post, I shared about the disappearing loop of Tanglin Halt Road and Tanglin Halt Close, and its relation to Tanglin Halt Industrial Estate, which provided employment for the HDB estate of Tanglin Halt, one of Singapore’s oldest public housing estates.

For this post, I will share photos of Tanglin Halt Estate itself, which we explored over two weekends.

Tanglin Halt Estate’s fate was sealed in June 2014, when 31 blocks were placed under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers), the largest Sers project to date: Blocks 24 to 32, 33 to 38, 40 to 45, 55, 56, 58 to 60, and 62 to 66.

Here’s a bird’s eye view of Tanglin Halt Estate.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

The estate has three neighbourhoods. There’s Tanglin Grove to the east; its blocks came up between 1969 and 1973, the exception being Block 24, completed 1983. Tanglin Halt Green is in the central portion; its blocks were built between 1971 and 1973. To the west is Commonwealth Green; most of its blocks came up between 1969 and 1973, with Blocks 60 and 62 appearing in 1983.

The 31 blocks and surrounding amenities to be demolished are shaded yellow. (Shaded red are Blocks 74 to 80 Commonwealth Drive, which were actually torn down a few years ago.)

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

Another view of the estate, to show the sheer scale of the Sers project.

Credit: Google Maps.

By the 3rd quarter of this year, the last of 3,480 households would have gotten the keys to their new flats at SkyResidence@Dawson, at nearby Margaret Drive. I predict firm deadlines for everyone to move out of the estate by the 4th quarter, and demolition to begin next year, although the timeline may shift because of the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

For now, Tanglin Halt Estate is still very much alive and lived-in, although many units are already vacant and locked, their occupants moved to replacement flats elsewhere. The estate is gradually bleeding out from within, but those who are still around are quietly clinging on to whatever’s left. I would too, if I had been a resident from the estate’s birth in the 1960s.

1. Tanglin Halt Market, Tanglin Halt Food Centre, and surrounding shops (Blocks 46-1, 46-2, 46-3, 47, 48, 49)

These areas will be progressively cleared together with the flats, affecting 157 market and hawker stalls, 50 shops, and four eating houses.

Tanglin Halt Market, with its iconic curved roof. To the left is a very long queue for Taiwanese-style chee cheong fun (rice rolls).

Kian Seng San Kee, an old-school provision shop at Block 49. Established in 1968, it still sells (for now) all the snacks and sweets one would ever need for one’s childhood to be complete.

Evergreen (Hup Kee) Photo Studio at Block 49.

Peking Room Coffeeshop at Block 49. Despite its name, there’s a stall selling roti prata.

Two aunties resting in front of Block 46-3.

Block 46-2 used to house the Alexandra Neighbourhood Police Post and the Queenstown branch of the People’s Action Party Community Foundation headquarters, but they have both moved out.

Tanglin Halt Food Centre. Its footprint comprises three hexagons joined together.

2. Commonwealth Green

The flats in this neighbourhood have bright, cheery, orange walls.

Block 55, from the Rail Corridor. Of Tanglin Halt Estate’s three neighbourhoods, Commonwealth Green lies closest to the former railway tracks which once connected Singapore to Malaysia.

Block 55.

A view of the Rail Corridor, and Blocks 57 and 61, from the top floor of Block 60. The first two blocks do not fall under Sers; hopefully, the three-storey Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) buildings will be conserved.

Many flats we passed by already have Notices of Possession pasted on their doors - a sign of finality and closure. This was on the 7th floor of Block 60.

Block 64.

The community square, from the top floor of Block 64.

Old-school grilles - a memory from my childhood.

3. Tanglin Halt Green

The walkway of Block 37. This neighbourhood has a pinkish colour scheme.

The top lift landing of Block 42... conveniently used for storage.

The back of Block 41, from the common corridor of Block 42. The common corridors of many older flats tend to face outward.

Block 38, from Block 40. It was raining heavily then.

The community square, from the top floor of Block 38. I hope such openness and greenery will be retained for future developments replacing Tanglin Halt Estate.

Essential services by the staircase...

Lay religion for one’s home.

4. Tanglin Grove

The open area between two blocks, which was a walkway with trees, grass, and space for bicycles, communal gatherings and first-floor occupants to hang their laundry. For these old blocks, the first floor also comprised flats, not void decks.

The blocks in this neighbourhood have a yellowish colour scheme.

Block 27, from Block 26.

Block 32, 7th floor.

Block 32, 9th floor.

The future and the past, next to each other: Block 32 in the foreground, at just nine storeys. It was completed in 1970. Towering over it in the background is Block 90 Tanglin Halt Road, part of the neighbourhood known as Commonwealth View. It soars to 40 storeys, and was completed in 2008, 38 years after Block 32.

Making way for a corridor

When the North-South Corridor - originally conceptualised as the North-South Expressway - is completed in 2026 as Singapore’s 11th expressway, it will greatly improve connectivity along the entire breadth of Singapore Island.

The 21-km, $8 billion corridor will connect the towns of Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, and Toa Payoh to the Central Business District, relieving heavy traffic on the frequently-jammed Central Expressway.

Singapore’s costliest expressway yet will also be the first to contain dedicated bus and cycling lanes, a boon for the city-state’s attempts to go “car-lite”. The corridor can be a model for present and future expressways to better accommodate viable alternatives to cars.

However, in an increasingly crowded, built-up urban environment, planning and constructing such a corridor while minimising the impact on said environment is no mean feat.

Hence, it is unfortunate that a handful of property owners suddenly had their precious assets acquired, because of the corridor:

A four-storey building in Thomson Road will be demolished to allow excavation for an upcoming North-South Corridor tunnel just metres away to begin safely.

The authorities found that the building was not strong enough to withstand the work.

Consequently, the 57-year-old mixed-use building at 68 to 74 Thomson Road and the 776 sq m plot of freehold land it sits on were acquired by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) for demolition.

Credit: The Straits Times.

The owners of its 12 residential units and four commercial units on the ground floor will have to return them to SLA by the end of July.

The building, which previously housed shops such as a Tanjong Rhu Pau outlet and the Animal Infirmary veterinary clinic, will be demolished by the end of this year.

Of its 16 units, 14 had been leased out to tenants.

The owners will be compensated based on the market value at the time of the acquisition.

SLA and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said they will work closely with the owners and assist them through the acquisition process. The value of each unit may differ and the appraisal work will be outsourced to private valuers...

In a joint statement, SLA, LTA and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said the building’s foundation required strengthening, but its concrete was not strong enough to allow this...

68-74 Thomson Road was built in 1964. This was the four-storey building in 2009.

Credit: Google Maps.

The building in 2019:

Credit: Google Maps.

And last year, after construction works on the corridor had begun.

Credit: Google Maps.

Property in Singapore is worth its weight in gold, so I can imagine the affected property owners to be quite bitter about this. The knowledge that their properties will be making way for a billion-dollar infrastructural project that will improve nationwide connectivity on a grand scale will be cold comfort to them.

In recent times, the authorities are getting better at planning large-scale infrastructure projects such as MRT lines and expressways, such that as few people are personally affected as possible. But there will always be the few who are inconvenienced.

A reminder that when it comes to transport infrastructure, there is always a trade-off between the greater good and private interests.

Roadside deities

Spotted under some trees alongside a Caltex petrol station, next to the Mount Pleasant Flyover of the Pan-Island Expressway, near where Mount Pleasant Road joins Whitley Road:

I see a couple of Laughing Buddhas (actually a depiction of Maitreya, the “Future Buddha”), Guan Yin, Datuk Gong, and Fu Lu Shou - popular Taoist and Buddhist deities seated side by side. The best of Chinese lay religion on display by the roadside.