- Bedok
SG neighbourhood
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englishname = Bedok
chinesename = 勿洛
pinyin = Wùluò
malayname = Bedok
tamilname = பிடோBedok is a neighbourhood in the eastern part of
Singapore .Bedok New Town is the fifthHousing and Development Board (HDB)new town ; its development started in April 1973 and continued over some 15 years.The
Bedok Planning Area , anurban planning zone under theUrban Redevelopment Authority , encompasses the Bedok New Town itself, the low-rise private residential areas along Upper East Coast Road, and in the districts of Kembangan,Siglap and Telok Kurau, and the high-rise privatecondominium developments in the eastern part ofMarine Parade .Etymology and early history
"Bedok" seems to be a very old place name. In the 1604 Manuel Gomes de Erédia's map of Singapore, there is a reference to the Bedok River called "sune bodo" (
Sungei Bedok ).Bedok is one of the early native place names in existence around the time of
Sir Stamford Raffles . In the first comprehensive map of Singapore Island completed by Frankin and Jackson and reproduced inJohn Crawfurd 's 1828 book, the place name appears on the south east coast of the island as a river, Badok S. (Sungei Bedok), around the "small redcliff ", a part of present Tanah Merah.The Malay word "bedoh" refers to a type of
slit drum made from a large hollowed log for calling people to amosque forprayers or to sound the alarm in the days beforeloudspeaker s. There was a prominent mosque in the 1950s at Jalan Bilal that still used the drum about five times a day. The "h" in the word "bedoh" is pronounced as a "k".A less popular version refers to an equally uncommon Malay term of "biduk", a small fishing boat like the
sampan , or more likely, a dugout canoe, as the east coast was dotted with many fishing villages.Bedok New Town
Bedok New Town covers a land area close to 9.4 km² with some 42% occupied for residential use. It was formerly a
hill y region and hence the focal point of orientation of the town is the special landscaped park andsports complex built on the higher ground of the town. The residential blocks as well as the industrial area are planned based on the neighbourhood concept.Residential development
There are some 58,000 units of flats built by the HDB in Bedok New Town. As one of the older towns, the majority of the flats are 3-room or 4-room. There are also some 2,700 and 583 units of executive and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDC) flats. It provides housing for some 200,000 residents.
Transportation
The Mass Rapid Transit station,
Bedok MRT Station Serves The Central Area Of Bedok. WhileBedok Interchange connects residents staying at Bedok North and Bedok South To Bedok Central. BothBedok Interchange andBedok MRT Station are located in the central area of Bedok.ee also
*
Bedok Village References
*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), "Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names", Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
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