Kampong Ubi
Kampong Ubi | |
---|---|
Subzone of Geylang Planning Area | |
Other transcription(s) | |
• Chinese | 乌美 |
• Malay | Kampung Ubi |
• Jawi | كامڤوڠ اوبي |
• Tamil | கம்பொங் உபி |
Kampong Ubi, also known as Ubi Estate, is a subzone located in the planning area of Geylang in the Central Region of Singapore. It lies within a somewhat rhombic piece of land bounded by Airport Road at the north, the Pan-Island Expressway at the south, Eunos Link at the east and Paya Lebar Road at the west. The area was formerly a Malay village.
Etymology and early history
The Malay word Ubi refers to the tapioca 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) 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 (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. 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 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.[1] There is also a reserved plot of land along Ubi Road 3 for a place of worship.
There are also several Chinese temples located along Arumugam Road and Paya Lebar Road within Kampong Ubi, like Lorong Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple (韭菜芭城隍庙), Kew Huang Keng Temple (葱茅园九皇宫) and Da Sheng Kong Temple (大圣宫).
Transportation
Ubi MRT station on the Downtown Line serves the residents and industrial workers in the estate. It opened on 21 October 2017.[2]
Other Organizations
- ComfortDelGro Driving Centre
- SPF Traffic Police Department Headquarters
References
- ^ "February 2018 Sales Launch: Geylang". 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ "Downtown Line 3 opens to public". The Straits Times. 2017-10-21. Retrieved 2019-04-06.