Plans underway to rejuvenate old power district

SINGAPORE — For three hours yesterday, the Pasir Panjang Power Station district came alive, just like in the 1960s, as more than 500 former residents returned for a reunion.

The “flatted kampung” get-together was made possible after a group of former residents made a request to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to visit their old living quarters before they are demolished.

A date for the power station’s demolition has not been fixed, as plans have not been finalised, but the SLA confirmed in a joint response with the Urban Redevelopment Authority that plans are underway to “rejuvenate” the district.

“As part of the plans, we’re also studying ways to retain key heritage elements of the old power district and how they can be sensitively integrated with the future developments,” they added. TODAY understands this may include keeping the main power station building.

The workers of the former Pasir Panjang Power Station vacated the flats when it was decommissioned in the 1980s. Three of the blocks, containing mainly one-room flats for bachelors, were later demolished to make way for SP Group’s Pasir Panjang Depot Office. The seven remaining blocks were leased out to be used as residences and a student hostel between 1995 and 2013 under Singapore PowerAssets Limited. The site was returned to the state in 2015.

Residents said the reunion was akin to an extended family gathering regardless of race or religion, helped by their fathers or grandfathers having been co-workers.

After more than 30 years, they may not have remembered each other’s names but former neighbours called out to each other by their former blocks. “Hey, I was from Block A! You were from Block E, right?” TODAY overheard Mr Ismail Maideem, 58, say to Mrs Thanapakiam Abraham, 72, who was a boiler operator’s wife.

Former Malay neighbours joined in an impromptu bhangra dance, just as it was at monthly “variety shows” the community would organise, said former resident Sangeetha Vengadachalem.

“My late grandfather was also a musician in those shows. He used to play small clash cymbals,” added the 39-year-old, who lived there until she was seven. “Memories of my grandfather kept rushing in from the moment I stepped into the estate.”

Pointing to a balcony, residents laughed as they recollected the story of “Superman” or “Sixty Million Dollar Man” Rashpal Singh Nijer, 50, who fell from the third floor but escaped unscathed, in 1974.

A Malay neighbour found him in a drain and called his mother, who was sleeping at the time. She slapped the then seven-year-old twice because he had been playing with his unit’s outdoor wire hangers when they gave way, Mr Singh told TODAY.

“My uncle took him to the hospital, but no problems. He came back (the next day) eating ice cream, and many neighbours visited him,” said Mr Surjit Singh Dhillon, who was six then. Wong Pei Ting