PM Lawrence Wong at Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Day 2025

Dear residents of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, 
Vanakkam, 
Selamat pagi dan selamat Hari Raya, 
各位居民、各位朋友们 早上好! 

I am very delighted to join all of you this morning for our Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Day. It is a chance for us to celebrate all that we have here in Marsiling-Yew Tee, and also to look ahead to the future for our community. 

Celebrating MYT

As you know, Marsiling-Yew Tee was formed as a GRC in 2015. SMS Zaqy, Mayor Alex and I have had the honour and privilege to serve you since that time; and Ms Hany Soh joined our team in 2020.  

Over the last ten years, we have had the joy of getting to know many families here – we have watched your children grow up, from little toddlers and primary school kids receiving Edusave awards to now many of them in university or even working. We have even seen for some of the older ones, your grandchildren being born and becoming part of our Marsiling-Yew Tee family. 

So we are all proud of how this town has become a home for every resident – young and old. 

In our last Masterplan, we set out our plans for Marsiling-Yew Tee to be a better home for everyone.   

We consulted, we took in your suggestions and we worked closely with our partners and with all of you to make these plans a reality. 

As you heard from Mayor Alex just now, you can see the progress all around us.   

We have got more sheltered linkways and drop-off points. 

Better amenities, like here in Limbang where you have the revamped Shopping Centre, and new facilities at the Choa Chu Kang Sport Centre.

We have had upgrades across the entire GRC – your flats, your lifts and neighbourhoods.

And better connectivity with the rest of Singapore – with the new MRT station at Woodlands and faster commutes with new bus services. Your journey began in 1985, when then-DPM Goh Chok Tong mooted the idea of a Feedback Unit to strengthen the government’s engagement with Singaporeans.

Our Next Masterplan

These are things we have achieved. But our work is not done yet. We want to continue making Marsiling-Yew Tee a better home for all of you – whether you are a young couple, a working professional, a multi-generational family, or a senior.  

Today we are launching our new Masterplan for the next five years. 

It reflects our commitment to partner you to shape our town’s future.  

And, we have taken your feedback and suggestions into consideration when working on this Masterplan.  

And we will of course, continue to work closely with you to turn these new plans into a reality.  

You can see from the banners and the exhibition later all the specific details. But let me share a few highlights of what this new plan means for all our residents. 

First, there will be a few major new developments that you can look ahead to the future. 

The extension of the Downtown Line to Sungei Kadut will be a big project that will include two new stations, one at Sungei Kadut, another near Yew Tee. And this will help cut travel time to the downtown area. 

We also have the development of Sungei Kadut Eco-district, a complete revamp of the entire Sungei Kadut industrial estate. And it will create new opportunities and jobs closer to home.  

We are also redeveloping the Kranji Race Course. The entire course is going back to the government, we are redeveloping the entire place. There will be new flats, new homes and more recreational options.

And there is a major redevelopment happening for Woodlands Checkpoint. Which you know is congested all the time. So we are doing a major project to redevelop the Checkpoint. 

All of these projects which I have just highlighted will take time to complete, certainly more than five years. But we are starting the work within the next few years and eventually when completed, they will transform our entire GRC. 

Second, there are a few projects that you can look forward to within the next five years. The first category goes beyond five years, but we are starting in the next five years. Second category are things you will see within the next five years. They include: 

The new RTS link to Johor Bahru, from Woodlands. It will be very convenient to get on the train, go to the RTS, go to Johor and come back. And it is going to link back to our own MRT network. Going to Johor and back will be very very convenient in the future. 

There will be a new North-South Corridor viaduct from Admiralty Road West to Lentor Avenue, which will make travel time faster, this new North-South Corridor viaduct. Again, this will be completed in the next few years. 

And a new Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat Nature Park that also will be completed soon in the coming years. It will be one of the largest nature reserves in Singapore. 

These are some big projects started earlier but you can look forward to for completion in the coming years, within the next five years. 

The third category are community amenities, new improvements and upgrades near to home that again all of you can look forward to within the next five years too. 

One is happening near us, which is the Yew Tee Integrated Development. It will have new housing for seniors, services for everyone including a hawker centre, a new polyclinic and kidney dialysis centre.

Yew Tee CC will also be here, the Yew Tee CC will be set up within this integrated development near us. So the present CC in Yew Tee will be upgraded, for Limbang division as well. So you have a Yew Tee CC and a Limbang CC for the south. In the north, you will have a new Marsiling CC as well as an upgraded CC in Fuchun for Woodgrove Division. We are upgrading our community facilities and building new ones. 

We will continue to upgrade our homes and neighbourhoods, with more greenery, more sports and recreational facilities. And we will continue to make our community spaces better, more convenient, more accessible for everyone. 

These are three broad categories of projects. Some big major ones, some going to be coming up soon in the next five years and then a few community projects.  

All of these developments will make Marsiling-Yew Tee more connected, more liveable, more vibrant.   

But it is not just about building new things. It is also about using the infrastructure to care for others, and to do more for our own community. And we have always done so in Marsiling-Yew Tee. 

We have rolled out many programmes to support residents. 

We have done more in recent years as well, to help you with the cost of living through care packs, through financial assistance for those in need, and our recent MY $1 deals for essential necessities. 

And we also have many programmes to bring residents closer together, to strengthen relationships and to strengthen our community bonds. 

This strong kampong spirit, and our ability to look out for one another is what makes Marsiling-Yew Tee special and long may that continue.

SG60

This year, we mark SG60 – 60 years of Singapore’s independence. We have much to celebrate, and also much to reflect on.  

Today, Singapore stands on a strong foundation. But all of you know that we are entering a world that is going to be more dangerous and unpredictable.  

The tariffs that were just announced by the US will have significant impact on the global economy, and the wider global system. 

China has already retaliated with its own tariffs, and other countries will soon follow I am sure. 

We may well end up with a full-blown global trade war. 

So, we must brace ourselves for more shocks to come. 

In a time like this, it is more important than ever to cherish and to protect what we have in Singapore.  

We have here a society built on mutual care and respect, regardless of race, language, or religion.

We have a meritocratic system that provides for all to chart their own paths and be the best versions of themselves. 

And we have a strong spirit of solidarity and unity that keeps us moving forward, no matter the challenges ahead.   

So while there are dark clouds ahead, we can look forward still with confidence in ourselves. Because here in Singapore, we have always faced challenges with grit and determination, like we did when we overcame the Covid pandemic. And as long as we continue to stand together and look out for each other, I believe we can weather the storm, and build a better tomorrow, a better home and a brighter future for everyone. 

Thank you very much and enjoy the weekend.