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Choa Chu Kang to have two new hawker centres

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One will be in town centre, the other to be part of Yew Tee integrated development

Choa Chu Kang residents craving affordable meals close to home can look forward to two new hawker centres within a few years.

There are currently no hawker centres in Choa Chu Kang town, with the closest being Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre, about 3km away, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said yesterday.

This is set to change.

Said Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad: "We're going to have another hawker centre in Choa Chu Kang town centre, and that will be done after the Jurong Region Line construction works are completed in 2026."

The hawker centre will be part of a mixed-use development, said the Minister of State for National Development and Manpower.

The other hawker centre is to be situated within the planned Yew Tee integrated development opening in 2026.

Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC MP Alex Yam said the idea for it started out simply as a plan for a hawker centre back in 2013.

Due to land scarcity, the authorities decided to fully utilise the land and added a polyclinic and a community club.

Later, the idea for a "big project" including residential facilities, especially for older residents, came up.

These new hawker centres are among the 20 that are either completed or still in the pipeline, since the Government said in 2011 that it would resume building new hawker centres.

Senior Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources and Health Amy Khor said in the NEA statement: "Hawker centres serve the important role of stabilising food prices, offering affordable and accessible food options, when compared to other food and beverage outlets such as coffee shops, food courts and even shopping malls in some HDB estates."

Other amenities to be built in the area include a new polyclinic near Yew Tee MRT station. It will be ready by 2026 and will provide primary care services to Choa Chu Kang residents, including chronic disease management, women and children's health services and psychological services.

Said Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State for Health and Transport: "Feedback from residents, as well as from patients, (is) the Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic is actually quite crowded."

Yew Tee resident Wanie Kayleigh Gomez, 27, said she was looking forward to the area becoming more vibrant.

"I grew up here, so I'm really looking forward to seeing the changes and the addition of more facilities," said the advertising and marketing associate who has lived there for two decades.

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