Pasir Ris

Pasir Ris is primarily a residential area in Singapore comprising many high-rise residential dwelling blocks, mostly public housing built by the Housing and Development Board in Pasir Ris New Town. The town is located in the eastern part of Singapore.

Like other new towns, public transport facilities were factored into the development of Pasir Ris. Pasir Ris is easily accessible via bus services at Pasir Ris Bus Interchange and the Mass Rapid Transit at Pasir Ris MRT Station.

Etymology and history
The first reference to a village of Pasir Ris, Passier Reis, appeared in 1853. There has been conjecture that perhaps this is a contraction of Pasir Hiris (pasir is "sand" and hiris means "to shred" in Malay). The development of Pasir Ris New Town began in 1983 with Phase 1 being an Elias Road/Pasir Ris Estate, followed by Loyang N1 and N2 by 1989-90, N4 from 1992 to 1993, N5 from 1995 and N6 in 1997 together with N7. The proposed Neighbourhood 3 (N3) is just an empty land and (N8) is part of military training area, will be reviewed in 2018.

The area was known as White Sand because it had a good beach. Today, White Sands Shopping Centre, located next to Pasir Ris MRT Station embodies the local place name.

Geography
Pasir Ris is geographically divided into 3 regions: Loyang (East), Central and Elias (West) with some hills less than 40 metres.

Political boundaries
Pasir Ris comes politically under the Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency since 2001 and Pasir Ris Group Representation Constituency from 1997 to 2001. After the general election in 2001, a large part of the former Pasir Ris Central Division and the Pasir Ris-Loyang Division came together as Pasir Ris East with Zainal Sapari as the Member of Parliament since 2011.

Pasir Ris West consists of Elias housing estate and the western area of Pasir Ris and its Member of Parliament being Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean. In conjunction with the expansion of Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC), a Community Club scaling six storeys high, was built in Pasir Ris East. In October 2004, Pasir Ris West also saw the completion of Pasir Ris Elias Community Club.

Recreation
In proximity to the sea, Pasir Ris has several recreation areas like the NTUC Downtown East, which have facilities like chalets, theme parks, a bowling alley, a park for pets and pet owners and Pasir Ris Park. There is also another park by the name of Pasir Ris Town Park, close to where the Shopping Centre White Sands is located. The park sports a park connector, a playground, an eatery and fishing pond and a section of the park has been removed to build the Sports and Recreation Centre. The bowling alley building in Downtown East has been demolished to make way for a new four storey shopping and entertainment complex with a cinema which has been completed in 2008 called e!hub. e!hub also includes a new bowling alley, which replaces the old one. The area also includes two theme parks. They are Escape Theme Park which opened in 2000 and Wild Wild Wet which is a water-based theme park that opened in 2004.

Industry
Pasir Ris is also part of the Jurong Town Corporation's plan to develop wafer fabrication facilities in Singapore. The other two locations are Tampines and Woodlands. Presently, there are two major wafer fabrication parks in Pasir Ris. Companies situated there include United Microelectronics Corporation and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing.Pasir Ris have two recycling factory in the N2 area.

Education

 * Primary schools
 * Casuarina Primary School
 * Loyang Primary School
 * Coral Primary School
 * Elias Park Primary School
 * Park View Primary School
 * Meridian Primary School
 * Pasir Ris Primary School
 * White Sands Primary School


 * Secondary schools
 * Coral Secondary School
 * Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School
 * Hai Sing Catholic School
 * Loyang Secondary School
 * Greenview Secondary School
 * Siglap Secondary School


 * Post-secondary schools
 * Meridian Junior College

Places of worship
Buddhist temples
 * Sakya Tenphel Ling (Tibetan Monastery)

Catholic churches
 * Church of the Divine Mercy

Mosques
 * Al-Istighfar Mosque

Protestant churches
 * Bethesda Pasir-Ris Mission Church
 * Pentecost Methodist Church
 * RiverLife Church
 * Shalom Bible Presbyterian Church

Commercial services
Shopping centres, malls and markets Petrol/Diesel Stations
 * Loyang Point (Pasir Ris East)
 * Pasir Ris Drive 6 (Pasir Ris East Central)
 * White Sands Shopping Centre (Pasir Ris Central)
 * Elias Mall (Pasir Ris West)
 * Pasir Ris West Plaza (Pasir Ris West)
 * NTUC Downtown East
 * E-Hub Shopping Mall (Pasir Ris Central)
 * Singapore Petroleum Centre (Drive 4)
 * Esso Petrol (Drive 1)
 * Shell (Loyang Ave)

Community services
Community Centres
 * Pasir Ris East CC (Drive 4)
 * Pasir Ris Elias Community Club(next to Elias Mall)

In popular culture
Singaporean singer and songwriter Kevin Mathews, who grew up in the area once wrote a song Pasir Ris Sunrise, a parody of the song Waterloo Sunset