Flats in second district of Tengah estate to debut in BTO exercise this month

SINGAPORE — Flats in Tengah housing estate’s second district, called the Garden District, will debut in the Housing and Development Board’s (HDB) Built-to-Order (BTO) exercise this month.

The launch of Garden District comes after flats from the estate’s Plantation District were launched in November last year. At about 80 hectares, the Garden District is expected to provide up to 6,500 new homes when fully completed, the HDB said on Monday (May 20).

The height of its apartment blocks will be staggered to create the impression of “valleys nestled amid garden spaces”, and the flats will be oriented to maximise the surrounding garden views, said the HDB.

All roads in the district will feature 2m-wide dedicated cycling paths and 1.5m-wide pedestrian paths.

The district will be near a future MRT station on the Jurong Region Line, and most bus stops will be within 300m of residents’ homes.

Each flat will be equipped with data points and additional power points to enable the adoption of smart home devices.

Offering a preview of what potential homebuyers can expect, the HDB said a recreational corridor with about 3,000 sqm of community and allotment gardening will be a key feature of the district.

One end of the corridor – dubbed the Garden Farmway – will lead to the Tengah Pond, which will have retail and recreational facilities along the waterfront. The other will lead to a 20-hectare park, which will serve as a buffer between homes and the future Jurong Innovation District.

The first housing project of Garden District that will be launched for sale is Garden Vale@Tengah. Together with a second project in Plantation District, more than 2,000 flats will be on offer.

The flats will range from 2-Room Flexi to five-room units.

At the BTO exercise last November, flats in Tengah were priced (excluding grants) from S$101,000 for 2-Room Flexi units, to S$423,000 and above for three-generation units.

All types of units were oversubscribed.

The application rate was 1.7 for 2-Room Flexi units, while four-room flats were the most popular, with an application rate of 4 as of Nov 19 last year, according to HDB’s website.

At 700 hectares, Tengah estate will be roughly the size of Bishan town and yield about 42,000 homes when fully developed.

The estate will have a 5km forest corridor that is about 100m wide.

It connects the Western Catchment Area and the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, and nature conservationists have called for more land to be set aside as a refuge for animals including uncommon birds and mammals.