Tengah residents welcome new amenities, but gripes on mobile reception and bus routes remain

SINGAPORE: When flat buyers started collecting the keys to their Tengah homes in August last year, the town had no commercial facilities and just one bus service plying its roads.  
A year on, the 700ha town – roughly the size of Bishan – now has its own bus interchange and a neighbourhood centre that has a Giant supermarket, a Koufu food court with nine stalls, and a McDonald’s. 
Other shops opening soon at the Plantation Plaza neighbourhood centre include KFC and Daiso, according to the centre’s website. 
While accessibility has improved and more amenities are available, gripes remain about the limited bus services and poor mobile reception, as CNA found after visiting the town to speak to residents.
As of July, home owners have collected keys to more than 5,200 flats – out of nearly 7,000 units sold – in Tengah, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said. The town is expected to have 30,000 flats when completed.
Gripes among those who have moved into their new homes include poor mobile connectivity. CNA previously reported that residents could not get a mobile signal in Tengah, but only on major roads bordering the town.
The situation has since improved but mobile reception indoors, especially in basements and car parks, is still weak, residents said. 
This was the experience of Mr Lim, who is in the midst of moving into Plantation Village, one of the town’s six precincts. The 31-year-old business owner was waiting for a delivery man who got lost in the car park and had no mobile reception to make a phone call.
“When people arrive at the car park, they can’t connect with anyone because some blocks’ drop-offs are within level one car parks, which have terrible reception,” said Mr Lim, who declined to give his full name. 
The problem of weak mobile reception extends to Plantation Plaza. Resident Raden Abdul Hamid told CNA he cannot use digital methods to pay for his purchases at the supermarket. 
“Even at the basement, the Giant, we had issues but they provided us with WiFi (to connect),” said the 62-year-old. Mr Raden moved to Tengah’s Plantation Village with his wife two months ago. 
At the third-floor Koufu food court, this reporter had no mobile signal when trying to pay for a meal with her phone. She could not get a signal inside the washrooms on the same floor either. 
Gaps in network connectivity are expected in the initial months of residents moving in, HDB said in response to CNA’s queries. This is as keys are handed over to residents immediately after flats are completed and telcos are still installing antennas on rooftops. 
“This is a trade-off between completing all construction works, including those on the rooftops and in the precinct, before keys handover, and handing over keys as soon as possible to buyers once their flats or blocks are ready,” an HDB spokesperson said. 
HDB said it handed over the keys once the flats were ready as construction had been delayed by the pandemic. Residents also said they wanted to get their keys as soon as possible to start their renovations.
Temporary antennas were installed at Plantation Plaza in June to boost mobile connectivity, HDB added.
The housing authority said it is facilitating telcos’ access to areas within Plantation Plaza to install transmission fibre cables and base stations, which will improve mobile network coverage. These are expected to be operational from the end of August.
Residents welcomed the new bus services that connect Tengah to major transport nodes but called for more direct routes that did not wind through neighbouring estates. 
Three bus services – 870, 992 and 871 – stop at Tengah Bus Interchange or other bus stops in the town. 
Service 992 connects residents to Bukit Batok Interchange, while 870 goes to Jurong Town Hall Interchange. Bus service 871, launched on Jul 21, loops between the interchange, Bukit Gombak MRT station and Beauty World MRT station.
A Tengah home owner who declined to be named described long commutes on the current bus routes.  
The 38-year-old IT manager said it takes him one hour and 20 minutes to reach his workplace in Marina Bay Financial Centre, and his wife nearly two hours to reach her workplace in Tampines, from their new flat in Plantation Village.
While bus service 871 stops at Beauty World MRT station on the Downtown Line, its route has too many stops in Bukit Batok. A direct bus from Tengah to a Downtown Line station would be preferable, he said. 
The couple have not moved into their Tengah flat, preferring to stay put in their current home in Bukit Panjang, where their commute is kept to an hour. 
Full-time housewife and mother-of-four Shafiqah, who moved to Plantation Village in December last year, said her family spent more time at home in the initial months due to the lack of transport options. 
While public transport in Tengah has improved, it could be better, she said. 
“Pity the wheelchair users, (those with) strollers with young children who need to keep changing buses to go to Jurong side. We don’t have direct bus to Jurong West or Boon Lay,” said the 27-year-old, who did not give her full name. 
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it prioritised connecting Tengah residents to nearby key transport nodes and amenities to best serve their daily travel needs.
It will continue building commuter infrastructure such as bus stops in tandem with the town’s development, it said. 
“As Tengah town continues to grow, LTA will monitor changes in demand and commuter travel patterns, and adjust bus services provision accordingly.”
Mdm Shafiqah said she is glad F&B outlets have opened but hopes that more halal options will be available soon. 
HDB said more halal options will be available from the third quarter of this year, and it is working with Koufu to introduce more halal stalls at Plantation Plaza.
“The application and certification process for obtaining halal certifications takes some time as application can only be made after the F&B operator commences business,” its spokesperson said. 
Retiree Kwan Sau Kuen moved to Plantation Grove on Jul 16, weeks after Koufu and Giant supermarket opened on Jun 28. 
“I deliberately chose to move in only this month because I expected the Giant and Koufu to be open only either early this month or mid of this month. So if I suffer it would be just a short while,” the 70-year-old said. 
Even then, Ms Kwan said the food options are limited compared with her previous flat in Clementi, where she had seven coffee shops near her home. 
She usually takes a 20-minute bus ride to a coffee shop in Bukit Batok for meals now.
Likewise, a 56-year-old housewife, who gave her name as Mdm Koh, appreciates the supermarket but still takes to her usual haunts in Jurong, Bukit Gombak or Bukit Batok for fresh produce.
“Sometimes the kunning (a type of fish) is too small, and it’s bigger at the wet market,” said Mdm Koh in Mandarin.