PM Lawrence Wong at the Official Opening of One Punggol

My Parliamentary Colleagues, and Grassroots Advisers in Pasir Ris – Punggol,
SM Teo Chee Hean,
SMSes Janil Puthucheary and Desmond Tan,
MOS Sun Xueling,
Mr Sharael Taha and
Ms Yeo Wan Ling

Thank you for the warm welcome! And thank you, residents of Punggol for the very warm welcome, very good to see all of you!

About two months ago, I started on a series of visits to different constituencies in Singapore, to meet and engage Singaporeans directly. So today it is your turn in Punggol, and I am very happy to be here to engage all of you, and also to have this official opening of One Punggol. Everyone has worked very hard for this grand event so congratulations!

It is always good to visit Punggol, because this place has been developing so quickly and continues to change and develop. Each time I come here, there is something new to see.

There was a time when people thought that Punggol was very ulu, quite remote. In the 80s, I remember coming here for seafood, like I am sure many of you. In the 90s, we talked about Punggol development and its new Punggol Town, then we know what happened, the 1997 crisis struck, a lot of the plans slowed down. I remember in the early 2000s, coming to Punggol during Chinese New Year. I was the designated driver for my family, to bring the whole family out for Chinese New Year visits, and one of my relatives had moved to Punggol. So I had to drive and find my way in Punggol. Remember this was the days before GPS and even the street directory had not been updated with Punggol streets. So it was very hard to find my way around here, a lot of construction, a lot of empty buildings, even the road signs were not very clear, and I was thinking to myself, “Goodness, this is really frontier territory”.

But all that is behind us, because now, Punggol is so different. The vision of a waterfront town has come to life.

Punggol is a vibrant place full of young families and so many things to do. Excellent food options; so many recreational and leisure amenities. And the best part of it is, we are not done yet. There are still more things to come in Punggol.

All of you residents of Punggol can look forward to more new developments.

We have got the Punggol Regional Sports Centre going to be open by 2026.

And we are going to make public transport more accessible and more convenient here. So you can look forward to an even better environment in Punggol.

Of course, today, we mark another milestone of Punggol development and that is the official opening of One Punggol – an integrated community and lifestyle hub, where we bring together community spaces, public services, and retail, all under one roof to better serve residents.

I came here last year; this was to open the Regional Library of Punggol. Back then you could see not so many shops had opened.

Now the whole place is full.

It is vibrant, residents are everywhere, and I am glad that One Punggol is serving your needs. Because that is what we designed One Punggol for. To meet the needs of young residents here, especially young families.

And there will be many useful services that you can find, childcare services, healthcare services – KK Hospital has an outpatient clinic here. That will make it easier for parents to do your follow-up.

The One Punggol Community Club has moved here. It is a bigger CC, with more space, more facilities, and government agencies and social services have all moved here.

A lot of agencies, a lot of effort, a lot of people have come together to make One Punggol possible, so let us give all of them a round of applause to thank them for their hard work.

Singapore is a little red dot, but there is something distinctive about the different parts of our island. It is the places we grew up with and are familiar with, the shared experiences we have — especially in our formative years — and the emotional connections we build with the people around us. For example, for me, Marine Parade will always have a special place because that is where I grew up. I am no longer staying there, but you cannot take the Marine Parade out of me, because those were my formative years, all my memories were around that place. When I first entered politics, I was an MP in Boon Lay, in the West. And you can see in the West, they too have the same shared experiences, same memories, something special, charming in the West. Now I represent the North West. And in the North West also, they take pride in Woodlands and Marsiling, in the history of the place. It is a very special place for them. And I see that same spirit in Punggol. I met some of the families walking in — some of them have been here for some time, nearly twenty years, others have just moved in, but regardless, there is a good sense of belonging and they all love it here. Correct, Punggol residents?

In the end, it is not about hardware and infrastructure, it is about the bonds we have with one another that contributes to our sense of home.

So we welcome all of you to be involved in making this to be a better home for you and your children. We welcome your ideas and involvement in shaping your estate.

For example, just outside here you have a beautiful linear park, Punggol Green. It was not always like this. It was an unused walkway under the viaduct. But, we thought that there was an opportunity to make the space better, so the grassroots leaders and together the People’s Association as well, they consulted the community, they got views from residents, they took in your suggestions and today, you have a wonderful Punggol Green with a beautiful park, fitness corners and playgrounds, thanks to your suggestions.

So I encourage all of you to continue to step forward, take ownership and responsibility for your community and strengthen the bonds you have with one another.

There are already many examples of this in Punggol. For example, I learnt that a group of about 30 volunteers staying here have signed up to plant vegetables at the level 5 rooftop garden here at One Punggol. The harvested vegetables will be sent to Fo Guang Shan temple, which will then cook the vegetables and share them with more vulnerable families. It is a wonderful initiative, so well done to all the volunteers doing this.

I am sure there are many more such examples all over Punggol. The point is, when we come together like this, as a community, working closely with each other, as well as with the government, we can be more effective. We can get more things done, and we can make this truly a better home for all.

What we do as a community applies as a country too. We are now embarking on our next phase of nation building. Our ability to move forward in this increasingly troubled and volatile world depends on our solidarity and our unity. It depends on our ability to work together as one united people. And that is why at my recent National Day Rally I have been talking about strengthening our social compact. Helping more vulnerable Singaporeans, and helping everyone to find their own path, to pursue their own dreams and be the best possible versions of ourselves. The government will do more in this endeavour, we will certainly do more to help disadvantaged groups, but all of us also must do our parts to help our fellow Singaporeans. Because we are all in this together and we truly succeed only when we succeed together.

So I look forward to all of your support on this journey forward, so that we can take Singapore forward and we can all build a better future for everyone in Singapore. Thank you very much and enjoy the rest of your evening.

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