New Punggol and Pasir Ris-Changi GRCs in north-east, following rapid population growth

SINGAPORE – Two new group representation constituencies have been formed in the north-east – the area with the largest increase in the number of voters since the last general election.

The existing five-member Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC will be split into two new four-member GRCs, with a new Punggol GRC created by carving out estates in Punggol and merging those with Punggol West SMC.

Farther east, Pasir Ris-Changi GRC will take in the remaining estates in Pasir Ris and some of the easternmost parts of East Coast GRC.

The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC)

detailed these boundary changes in its report

released on March 11, nearly two months after it was formed on Jan 22.

Compared with past reports, the committee set out in greater detail its rationale for the boundary changes, which the Government has accepted.

The changes will take effect at the next general election, widely expected by the middle of the year.

New constituencies due to population growth

The number of voters has increased to 2,753,226 as at Feb 1, 2025, up from 2,651,435 at the 2020 General Election.

This increase was not evenly distributed across the island, the committee noted.

There was higher growth in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Sembawang GRC, Tampines GRC, Hong Kah North SMC and Potong Pasir SMC due to population shifts and new housing developments, it said.

The two new GRCs in the north-east are largely drawn from the existing Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which made its debut on the electoral map in 2001.

This constituency has seen large population growth in the last five years, given the new Build-To-Order estates in Punggol such as Northshore Residences I and II.

It will continue growing, with more housing developments in the pipeline.

In 2020, it had 161,952 voters. This grew to 184,593 voters as at Feb 1.

The EBRC hence recommended that the Punggol area of the constituency – roughly demarcated by looking north of the Sungei Serangoon Park Connector – merge with Punggol West SMC to form the new Punggol GRC.

This will combine some 96,825 voters in Punggol with 26,732 voters from the single-member constituency for a total of 123,557 voters.

“This will also better reflect the identity of the estates in Punggol town,” said the committee.

The remaining polling districts from Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC will merge with the Loyang and Flora estates from East Coast GRC.

This new Pasir Ris-Changi GRC will have 100,639 voters – 87,768 from Pasir Ris-Punggol and 12,871 from East Coast.

The East Coast polling districts that come under this new constituency are those around Changi Airport and Changi Prison Complex.

Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC has been won by the People’s Action Party (PAP) with vote shares between 64 per cent and 73 per cent over the years. Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, who anchors the GRC now, has contested there since 2001.

In 2020, it saw a three-cornered fight with the Singapore Democratic Alliance and Peoples Voice, where the PAP came away with a 64.16 per cent victory.

Punggol West SMC, a one-term constituency, was won by PAP’s Ms Sun Xueling with 60.98 per cent of the vote in 2020 against the Workers’ Party’s (WP) Ms Tan Chen Chen.

It had been carved out of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC then, reducing the six-member constituency to five.

WP may look to contest Punggol GRC in the upcoming election, based on its activity in the area so far.

Within an hour of the report’s release, SM Teo addressed residents in a video on Facebook, acknowledging the growth of the Punggol and Pasir Ris towns.

“Our strong commitment to serve you continues. Our team has worked together with you for many years, building exciting new developments in Punggol and renewing and revitalising Pasir Ris with many new facilities,” he said, adding that the team welcomes the residents from Changi.

In its report, the EBRC also recommended reducing the size of Ang Mo Kio GRC, which had the most electors – 190,800 as at Feb 1.

It had grown from 180,186 in 2020, when it was also the largest constituency in terms of voter numbers.

By carving out a new Jalan Kayu SMC, the five-member GRC will now cover 161,235 voters.

Jalan Kayu will have about 29,565 voters.

Hong Kah North SMC has also grown significantly and will continue to grow rapidly in the coming years, with new housing developments in Tengah and Bukit Batok West, noted the EBRC.

“It has become too big to remain as an SMC,” said the committee, which recommended dissolving the constituency into those around it.

The Tengah estates will be absorbed into Chua Chu Kang GRC, while the Bukit Gombak and Hillview estates in the GRC will be carved out to form a new Bukit Gombak SMC.

The remaining sections of Hong Kah North will join parts of Bukit Batok and Yuhua SMCs as well as Jurong GRC to form

a new five-member Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC

.

New single seats will be carved out from Sembawang GRC and Tampines GRC, both of which saw their voter populations grow in the last five years due to new housing developments in Canberra and Tampines North.

The new Sembawang West SMC will have 24,153 voters, while the new Tampines Changkat SMC will have 23,802 voters.

This will leave Sembawang GRC and Tampines GRC with fewer or a similar number of voters as in 2020.

Changes to adjacent constituencies

With East Coast GRC ceding parts of its estate, the committee recommended that it take in parts of Marine Parade GRC – 40,675 voters from the Chai Chee Housing Board estates and Siglap private estates.

It will remain as a five-member GRC with 150,691 voters.

Marine Parade GRC will

in turn absorb parts of Potong Pasir SMC,

given the high population growth from new HDB developments in Bidadari, said the committee.

The five-member GRC will also absorb all 26,779 voters of MacPherson SMC and 4,966 voters from Mountbatten SMC.

It will be renamed Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

With the changes to the Jurong area, a new Jurong Central SMC will be formed to maintain the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC’s number of voters at a level suitable for a five-member constituency.

Some estates in Jurong West and Taman Jurong – formerly in Jurong GRC – will be merged into the adjacent West Coast GRC.

It will be

renamed West Coast-Jurong West GRC

, which will remain as a five-member GRC.

To maintain voter numbers, the easternmost sections of the constituency that currently comprises estates in HarbourFront and Sentosa will be taken into Radin Mas SMC.

The Dover and Telok Blangah estates from West Coast GRC will be moved into the adjacent Tanjong Pagar GRC.

With these changes, some estates in Queenstown – which were originally part of Tanjong Pagar GRC – will be carved out to form a new Queenstown SMC.

Renaming of constituencies

A number of the new GRCs feature double-barrelled names.

Some existing GRCs already follow this naming convention, meant to better reflect the identities of the geographic areas in the GRCs.

These include Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.

Hence, the committee recommended continuing this practice for the new GRCs – Jurong East-Bukit Batok, Pasir Ris-Changi and West Coast-Jurong West.

It also recommended renaming Marine Parade GRC to Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.