When housewife Dishti Gulrajani moved to Sengkang West eight years ago, her estate was sparsely populated with only one bus service plying her quiet neighbourhood.
Today, there are four more bus services within walking distance, and a new mall with a 24-hour supermarket. But most important to Ms Dishti, 39, is that her Anchorvale neighbourhood is now a vibrant community with many young families like hers.
"The empty spaces where I used to fly kites with my daughter have become new blocks of flats, new schools and new shops," she said. "It's like a community that has grown right in front of my eyes."
Yesterday, she joined more than 5,000 residents and grassroots leaders of Sengkang West at an open-air carnival near Anchorvale Community Club to celebrate their constituency's 10th anniversary.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, an MP for neighbouring Ang Mo Kio GRC, joined Sengkang West MP Lam Pin Min and grassroots leaders in singing a birthday song and cutting a cake to mark the occasion.
Residents were treated to carnival games and stage performances, including a three-generation choir performance and an instrumental medley of National Day songs by an ensemble from the National University of Singapore's Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music.
Sengkang West was created as a ward under Ang Mo Kio GRC in 2006, and was made a single-member constituency (SMC) in 2011.
Dr Lam highlighted the tremendous change it has seen over the past decade, noting that Anchorvale CC and the Sengkang Sports and Recreation Centre opened in 2008 with swimming pools and water slides, an indoor sports hall and a world-class hockey stadium.
The nearby Sengkang floating wetland opened in 2010, while Seletar Mall opened in 2014, providing residents with more food and beverage options and a cineplex, he added.
Residents can also look forward to more developments in Sengkang in the coming years, he said.
The 1,400-bed Sengkang General and Community Hospitals will be completed in 2018, while more pre-schools and kindergartens will also be built in the estate to cater to young families' needs.
Public transport in Sengkang West will also be improved, he said. "We'll be seeing higher frequencies of MRT and LRT trains, including more dual-carriage LRT trains," Dr Lam said. "I'm also working very closely with LTA (Land Transport Authority) to add more bus services to serve the needs of Sengkang West."
