Bukit Panjang

Bukit Panjang ( ) is a planning area and residential town located in the West Region of Singapore. A portion of this town is situated on a low-lying elongated hill. The planning area is bounded by Bukit Batok to the west, Choa Chu Kang to the northwest, Sungei Kadut to the north, the Central Water Catchment to the east, and Bukit Timah to the south. Bukit Panjang New Town is located at the northern portion of the planning area. Bukit Panjang has an average elevation of 36m/118 ft.

The town is categorised into seven subzones, namely Jelebu, Bangkit, Fajar, Saujana, Senja, Dairy Farm, and Nature Reserve.

Etymology

Bukit Panjang means "long hill" in Malay. It gets its name from the low hills which end south to Bukit Timah. The roads in the town are named after the old 1960s kampung tracks (Lorong Petir, Lorong Pending, Jalan Fajar, Jalan Senja) which used to ply the area.

History

Historical maps from 1911 to 1978 indicate Bukit Panjang hill with a peak of between Choa Chu Kang Road and Upper Bukit Timah Road, near the Lian Hup Quarry and present-day MINDEF Building. Quarrying activities likely flattened the hill.

In the mid 1800s, settlements emerged at the 10th milestone of Bukit Timah Road, near Bukit Panjang hill. The term '10th mile' is preserved in the naming of Ten Mile Junction LRT Station, Ten Mile Junction Depot and the Junction 10 shopping mall. Then, the area was home to gambier and pepper planters, and these settlements expanded northwards to Kranji in 1845 with the extension of Bukit Timah Road - as Kranji Road and then renamed to Woodlands Road.

From 1903 to an unknown date, Bukit Panjang railway station on the Singapore–Kranji Railway served the Bukit Panjang settlements and plantations. The station was located along present-day Choa Chu Kang Road, near the junction of Woodlands Road, Bukit Panjang Road and Upper Bukit Timah Road. The right-of-way is preserved as part of the Rail Corridor. The station was incorporated into the Federated Malay States Railways, allowing for northwards journeys to Woodlands, Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur and southwards journeys to Holland Road, Newton, Tank Road and Pasir Panjang. Trains carried both passengers, goods, mail and stone from Mandai Quarry. In 1932, the railway south of Bukit Panjang station was realigned, with the new route running through a new station at Bukit Timah, Tanglin, Alexandra and Tanjong Pagar. At some point since then, new stations at Woodlands and Kranji also opened, with only Mandai and Bukit Panjang stations from the old alignment continuing to be in use.

In 1912, The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser reported that business magnate Ong Sam Leong tapped the first tree of the Bukit Panjang Rubber Estate, located 10.5 miles from the town.

In 1957, the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) launched Bukit Panjang Estate - this was later renamed to Teck Whye Estate, which was along present day Jalan Teck Whye. The land of the Bukit Panjang Estate and settlements are in present day Choa Chu Kang Central and Teck Whye. These flats were sold as low-cost alternatives for those working in the Bukit Timah region. These SIT flats faced heat-trapping issues, resulting in petitions and community meetings by the residents to escalate the issue.

The Bukit Panjang Community Centre and the one at Jalan Kong Kuan served the community in tackling different local and national issues, also engaging in charity events.

When Bukit Panjang Secondary School shifted to the new premises along Jalan Teck Whye in 1959, the first cohort had no desks and chairs for the first two weeks - when the furniture arrived two weeks later, all rushed to move them in. They also transformed the barren land behind the school into a field.

In 1960, a fund drive to build a mosque was started for one in Bukit Panjang, the nearest mosque then was over seven miles away. The Lembaga Masjid Jamik was constructed along Choa Chu Kang Road with the help of more than 100 volunteers to clear the site. Since then, this mosque has been renamed to Al-Khair Mosque and moved to Teck Whye Crescent.

Demographics

Population history

Age profile

The data below is from the population report published by the Singapore Department of Statistics as of June 2025.

Bukit Panjang has a home ownership rate of 92.8% as of 2020. This is higher than the national home ownership rate of 87.9%,

| 74,266

| 15,798

| 5,735

| 760

| 2010

| 96,079

| 20,598

| 9,161

| 2,896

| 2015

| 103,280

| 22,230

| 10,300

| 3,210

| 2020

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In Bukit Panjang, the proportion of residents using English as the most frequently spoken language (45.9%) is lower than the national average of 48.3%. Additionally, there are 2,781 Tamil speakers, representing 82.4% of the 3,373 Indian language speakers in Bukit Panjang. and Senja-Cashew Community Club, which serve the entertainment, recreational, and educational needs of residents.alt=|thumb|left|Bukit Panjang Plaza, one of the popular malls in Bukit Panjang, before its second major renovation.Bukit Panjang Plaza is one of the well-known malls in Bukit Panjang. It is located in the heart of Bukit Panjang town and is near Bukit Panjang LRT station, Bukit Panjang MRT station, and Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange. Located on Jelebu Road, the mall has been expanded twice throughout its existence to include more shops in the building. The mall is owned by CapitaRetail which is another retail-based REIT by CapitaLand. The mall houses the Bukit Panjang Public Library as well as a NTUC FairPrice Finest supermarket.thumb|Hillion Mall as viewed from Bukit Panjang MRT station

Hillion Mall is another well-known mall in Bukit Panjang, located along Petir Road. It is one of the more recent commercial facilities, which completed construction and was opened to the public on 24 February 2017. It is part of the Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub, which shares the building with the Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange, and directly links to the Bukit Panjang MRT/LRT station through an underpass and above-ground link way respectively.

thumb|The market at the Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood Centre in Bangkit

There are other smaller commercial buildings equipped with food courts, supermarkets, and other basic shops to meet the basic necessities of the residents. They are commonly located within HDB estates or small standalone buildings. Some of the more iconic buildings include Junction 10 located along Woodlands Road, Fajar Shopping Centre located along Fajar Road, Greenridge Shopping Centre located along Jelapang Road, and the Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood Centre located along Bangkit Road.

Within the neighbourhood consists of two hawker centres; the Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre and Market and the Senja Hawker Centre. The former opened in 2015 while the latter opened in 2022.

A healthcare facility located along Senja Road was opened on 2 October 2021 to house the Bukit Panjang Polyclinic and the Senja Care Home.

thumb|[[Pang Sua Pond, home to the second largest man-made floating wetland system in Singapore]]

The town has two major parks, namely Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood 5 Park and Zhenghua Park. as well as other private institutions.

Primary schools

Beacon Primary School
Bukit Panjang Primary School
CHIJ Our Lady Queen of Peace
Greenridge Primary School
West Spring Primary School
West View Primary School
Zhenghua Primary School

Secondary schools

Assumption English School
Assumption Pathway School
Greenridge Secondary School
West Spring Secondary School
Zhenghua Secondary School

Private institutions

German European School Singapore
St Francis Methodist School
Trinity Theological College
St Francis Xavier Major Seminary

Transportation

Rail

Bukit Panjang is served by the following MRT stations on the Downtown Line, which opened on 27 December 2015, and provides residents with direct train access to the Downtown Core:

– Bukit Panjang
Cashew

It is also served by the following LRT stations on the Bukit Panjang LRT line, which connects it to nearby Choa Chu Kang for commuters to access the North–South Line:

Petir
Pending
Bangkit
Fajar
Segar
Jelapang
Senja

thumb|The interior of Bukit Panjang MRT station.

alt=|left|thumb|Bukit Panjang LRT station with a condominium and HDB flats in the background.

The driverless and fully automated Bukit Panjang LRT line was completed on 11 June 1999 at a cost of S$285 million. The rail line was intended to serve the growing town and act as a replacement to the many buses employed through the town, especially during rush hours. Originally opening with 14 stations, Ten Mile Junction station permanently closed in 2019 after sighting low ridership, bringing the number to 13.

Several petitions were presented by the residents of Bukit Panjang protesting the decision by SMRT to replace the buses in Bukit Panjang with the LRT system. Some of the complaints were related to the fact that people preferred the previous bus system that covered most parts of the Bukit Panjang neighbourhoods such as bus service 190 and 972. The previous bus system was viewed as more efficient because it had many bus stops within walking distance; the LRT system has only 13 stations that are spaced hundreds of meters apart.

The LRT system is expected to go through a major upgrading programme that is due to be completed by 2026. The programme will bring about a new signalling system, better condition monitoring, new power rails system and 19 new light rail vehicles.

Bus

The public bus system is predominantly run by SMRT Buses. Of the SMRT buses based in Bukit Panjang, some are smaller feeder bus services that serve the various areas of the neighbourhood, while the rest are long-distance trunk services that serve as a mode of transport to other towns and to the city centre. Most bus services start and end at Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange.

Some buses loop around the bus interchange, using the bus stops along Upper Bukit Timah Road, above Bukit Panjang MRT as their looping point. This includes bus services 974 from Joo Koon Bus Interchange, 171 from Yishun Bus Interchange and 983 from Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange. This is possibly due to the smaller Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub compared to the previous bus interchange. The neighbouring Gali Batu Bus Terminal also houses and launches buses 75 and 184 that used to terminate at the bus interchange.

Other passing-through bus services include 67 and 190 from Choa Chu Kang Bus Interchange, 160 and 984 from Jurong Town Hall Bus Interchange, 170 from Queen Street Bus Terminal and 178 187 960 961 963 and 966 from Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub. Notably, buses 160 and 170 offer cross-border services to Johor Bahru, Malaysia and bus 178 provides a connection to Woodlands Train Checkpoint.

The town has numerous trunk buses that use expressways to access other towns or head towards the city. This includes services 187 963 966 to Woodlands via Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) northbound, 171 to Yishun via BKE northbound and Mandai, 190 960 972 to city via BKE southbound.

Road

thumb|The Senja/KJE road interchange

Bukit Panjang is bounded by two of Singapore's expressways — the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) and Kranji Expressway (KJE). The BKE is accessible via Bukit Panjang Road and Dairy Farm Road, while the KJE is accessible via Woodlands Road and Senja Road.

Bukit Panjang also has a ring road running through the various parts of Bukit Panjang, the Bukit Panjang Ring Road. It acts as a feeder to the main arterial roads in the town.

Cycling

thumb|Pang Sua Park Connector running along a canal

There is a total of 8.5 km-worth of cycling paths around Bukit Panjang to facilitate active mobility as part of the Land Transport Authority's Walk-Cycle-Ride initiative. The first batch of cycling paths was constructed along Petir Road in 2018 by the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council. The network has since expanded to cover areas such as Fajar, Bangkit, Jelapang, and Senja. Together with the Pang Sua Park Connector, Bukit Panjang Park Connector, and Bukit Panjang (Woodlands Road to KJE) Park Connector, the cycling paths form the backbone of the town's 16 km cycling network.

Politics

Bukit Panjang is politically divided into two constituencies, namely the Bukit Panjang Single Member Constituency and the Cashew and Zhenghua wards of the Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency.

Bukit Panjang SMC mainly consists of the Pending, Bangkit and Fajar areas. Its Member of Parliament is Liang Eng Hwa.

Senja, Segar, and Jelapang are located in Zhenghua ward of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC where its Member of Parliament is Edward Chia. Petir, Gangsa, and Chestnut areas belong to the Cashew division of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC with its Member of Parliament being Vivian Balakrishnan.

Administration

The Bukit Panjang area comes under the administrative lead of the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council, which oversees the management and maintenance of the many apartments (HDB flats) and commercial units in Bukit Panjang. Its Member of Parliament is Liang Eng Hwa since the 2020 general election.