In Lim Chu Kang, there is a small public housing area known as Neo Tiew Estate (or Lim Chu Kang Rural Centre). The whole area was en-bloc in 2002, with the residents shifted to Jurong West. The estate was vacated since then, and is currently used for FIBUA (Fighting in Built-Up Areas) trainings by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).
Neo Tiew (1883-1975), who had the estate and road named after him, was a pioneer in the development of Lim Chu Kang. He was heavily involved in developing roads and setting up schools, power stations and clinics in the area.
Neo Tiew set up the first mini-mart called Nan He Mini-Mart at Nan He Village, Lim Chu Kang, to supply daily necessities to the families of the farmers and fishermen in the vicinity. He also established a school named Qi Hua in order to provide lower and upper Primary education for their children. For his effort and contributions, Neo Tiew received the Order of the British Empire from the colonial government.
During World War II, Neo Tiew mobilised his fellow patriots to assist the British in the defense of Lim Chu Kang and Kranji. Sadly, 35 members of his family, including a 2-month-old baby, were massacred by the Japanese in 1942.
Built in 1979, there are three 3-storey flats in the estate, numbered 3 to 5. The abandoned flats are accompanied by a wet market and a playground. Lacking maintenance, the flats are left with dirty walls with paint peeling off and rusty windows. Overgrown bushes nearly cover the entire neighbourhood.
Visitors must exercise caution not to venture into the compound during a military drill.
One of the oldest playgrounds in Singapore can be found at Neo Tiew Estate. The ordinary-looking arc-shaped concrete structure was once used by kids as a platform for running with momentum or skateboarding. The center of the structure was previously covered with sand.
Elsewhere in Singapore, there is also a similar small housing estate at Seletar West Farmway 4 known as Jalan Kayu Rural Centre or Seletar Flats. It was built in the mid-seventies together with its more popular cousin at Seletar Road, the famous Seletar Hills Market, less than a kilometer away.
This small estate was en-bloc in 2005 and is currently used to house foreign workers. The blocks at Seletar Road was torn down in 2002, while the Seletar Hills Market was demolished three years later to make way for the new low-rise condominium Greenwich.
Published: 09 November 2010
Updated: 07 October 2012
ohhh i pass by here on my way to the goat farm quite creepy when i saw it at first
I remembered having a plate of char kuay teow there when I was a kid. Now it’s all gone. There is no place for the old in Singapore.
I just got this website from a old school freind living in AMA KENG. I live in Sungei Gedong road, NEO TIEW village, just opposite the Chinese school. And yes….I still remember the great Char Kway Teow stall at the junction of Lim Chu Kang Road and Sungei Gedong Road. I often wondered what happened to him. He used to have a sort of cart as his stall. Is that the same one as you know it ? Let me know if you know what happened to him . BTW, I am related to Neo Tiew, about 3rd generation from him, now living in the UK since 1975.
The village you mentioned is called Thong Hoe Village. There is also another open-air cinema which was also operated by your family together with another petrol pump, both are the only one for Lim Chu Kang, if I remember correctly. There were also 3 coffee shops located at each corner of the traffic junction towards Sungei Gedong.
Sipped teh from a saucer in the coffeeshop here as a little boy..and played in the huge bowl-shaped sandpit..
the wanton noodle there is nice ! haha
there was a hawker centre directly opposite a mosque and the main gate of Tengah Airbase until 1999.
oh yes i missed the yuchakueh daughter !!! haha, saw her grow up from a kid till late teens, really chio, too bad it closed down in 1999, haiz
Hi, is it possible to enter the compound or is it fenced up?
Enter at your own risk!
The compound is only partially fenced up.. so the abandoned flats, shophouses and market are accessible
It’s occupied by SAF on some of the days
Please take care
i used to nicked this place “the forgotten estate” when im doing my ns at armour camp. Some others from internet nicked this place “kranji ghost town”. its fascinating. I myslef would love to go in and look around. But u cant do exploring although its not fenced up. there is a sign tat says trespassers will be prosecuted. so its kinda like a criminal act.
The Neo Tiew village I know in the 1960s has no flats but just zinc roofed shophouses and other houses made of planks,attap and zinc.It was a serene village of farmers and a school called Kay Wah Chinese school Br 2.I could order a plate of char siew png for just 50 cents and it tasted heavenly.It brings back old memories everytime I pass this place.
Incidently as a teacher I taught 3 of Towkay Neo Tiew’s grandsons at Ama Keng School.
Hope you get this as I noticed your post was sometime back and I just got this link from a old friend who used to live in Ama Keng. I can’t remember the name of the school. But was that Chinese school along Sungei Gedong Road ? My mom used to teach there also and we live just across the road from the school. The headmaster, Mr Guan just passed away recently.
If you got this message, hope you will get back. Thanks.
The English school at Ama Keng is Ama Keng school. The one that mum was in was Kay wah school branch one. The one at Sungei Gedong was Kay Wah school main branch. The one in Neo tiew road was Kay Wah school branch two. The flats were built at the junction of lim chu Kang road and neo tiew road. Aunty ah kor used to live there. There was a hawker centre there. The char kuay teow that you mentioned is not the same one there. You are right, that was and still is, the best char kuay teow. I just told Kim about a week back that I have not been able to find a better char kuay teow than that. Jun wei’s nanny will probably be able to tell you what happened to the guy who ran the stall.
I study at Ama Keng School from 1966 to 1970. At first the school building is single storey and long in design later they added mutli storeys wing. I think the building are still there.
Still possible to enter the area ? Do we need any permission to enter.?
Yes, it’s accessible by the public but do look out for any military personnel.
Thanks. Maybe going today ^^
Is there many wild dogs? i heard from my dad that there are even wild boars! Is it safe to go alone?
Safe to roam around the compound but I won’t say the same if you want to access the flats… you won’t know if anyone is hiding in one of the units
Recently ORD from Gedong , i can say that there are wild dogs roaming that area. So do exercise caution when visiting the area.
I remembered drinking a can of coke in the coffeeshop in the 90′s. At that time the coffeeshop was still using the traditional blue colour metallic plates to cover the front of the shop when they are closed.
Could still recall ridiculously huge pigeons walking around the compound, and a large fly which landed straight into my cup of coke. Those were the days.
is there any nearest bus stop goes there?
Where is New Tiew Estate? I searched Google Maps and Google Street View all over Lim Chu Kang but I cannot find it.
It’s located at the junction of Lim Chu Kang Road and Neo Tiew Road
Thanks! I plan to go there to take photos but on Lim Chu Kang Road and Neo Tiew Road.
I wonder whats inside the abandoned units. Will I encounter a ghost at night? (as the place looks spooky)
I was serving my NS at Sg Gedong Camp in the late 90s … the place was already very run down but the hawker centre was still in operation, and the flats still occupied. I remember my OC brought us out for a morning jog and after our work-out, we settled down at the hawker centre for bkfast. I remember vividly eating the very delicious fried carrot cakes at $1.50/plate and a can of coke at 80cents (in 1998!!!) There was also a POSB ATM nearby ( i think) and a clinic ….
served ns in ratc, sungei gedong, from 1993-1995. went to neo teow village once to eat, but never knew about the histroy of Neo Tiew. There were alot of flies then in the coffeeshop or hawker centre, i cant remember. big fat flies, haha! i have never seen so many flies in my life!
anyway, i wonder what happened to the old Reservist Armour Training Centre. look like some old primary school. ratc was renamed in 1993/1994 by Lt Col Ralph Patterson as Armour Training Centre. He was the CO back then. He took over from Maj Seng. had to walk the 20mins route from the bus time each time we book in. i still can remember the sianz feeling walking back to camp. now atc got a brand new building.
my late grandfather used to bring me here on Sunday afternoons before it’s totally empty..
in fact my family had been living around the area until the late 80s
Thong Hoe village is the small town near by the Lim Chu Kang Estate. I was attached with the PPD Office of Jalan Bahtera off Lim Chu Kang 24KM from 1971 to 1984. The Chu-Char stall of the coffee shop run by Tua-bui (fatty) brothers was best in preparing the pig-leg stew. Can you remember this?
A good time to go to these out of bounds places is early on one of the major public holidays
only been there once in 1993 days b4 ROD, when back couple of years back had a hard time looking for it, now heard b’com military training ground ?
During World War II, Neo Tiew mobilised his fellow patriots to assist the British in the defense of Lim Chu Kang and Kranji. Sadly, his entire family of 35 was killed by the Japanese in 1942, with only Neo Tiew and his fourth son managed to escape.
My Great Gandfather and 4th Grandfather were not the only survivors.
Was posted to do my NS near Lim Chu Kang , and often passed by Neo Tiew Village during morning jog .. after reading this article i understands more about its past … thanks !
Keep sharing a keep this blog alive, although Singapore is not a huge place, there is many places that we have never (or have the chance) been to.
I just passed the estate not too long ago. The whole block of flats have been painted. Is the government doing something about the estate?
I watched Ah Boys To Men recently and was wondering if they had used this as one of the ‘war’ scenes at the start of the movie. Do you reckon?
Wish to go down soon to snap some pictures, but if it is true that they used this estate for the scene and have repainted it, then it won’t look rundown and rustic already I guess.
yup they repainted the place and filmed the war scene there. they actually did a CGI multi-storey market to replace the single-storey market in the middle.
the place is fully fenced up now btw
I remembered playing at the arc-shaped concrete structure when my parents brought me to the market on weekends.
The place still looks the same, just run down and overgrown with weeds.
Thanks for preserving our memories.
Hubby was a HDB technical officer there in e 90s and he introduced me to this place after 1 of our visits to e Muslim cemetry. I was lost beyond words, and i felt lost in time! A whole new meaning of “ghost town” for me. Haha. Singapore is really interesting.
I remembered the delicious chicken rice for $1.50
hey, we have some great photos and groups of AMK friends there. Come & join us in FB – Look for Ama Keng Primary School 1981 to 1986. We started to search for friends btw this period but today we have many other AMK friends joining from diff era…hehe..You might some old friends there as well.
Hi there. The address of the place is “1 Lim Chu Kang Rd, Singapore 710001″
HI!!! Just come across this.. I study in Ama Kheng school from 1988 to 1989(last year of operation) My brother from 1985 to 1989 also in Ama Kheng… I used to live in 36 Neo Tiew Lane. Anyone still remember there a fishing farm in Neo Tiew Lane which operate by my Uncle?
Hello, I was there from 1973 to 1979. The compound is now a work dormitory.
I met a girl from AMA Keng primary school whose elder brother happened to study in Lim Chu Kang primary school as i was. i met her once and have fond memory of her since then. The last time i saw her was 32 years ago when i was riding my bike along Neo Tiew road. I often wonder how she is doing now. The place we met the first time was at Tong Ho market depicted in the pictures above. We were very young playing a game of hide and seek. Now that I see these pictures, I can still remember the places we hid together.
I drove past Neo Tiew Estate at around 9pm the past week and saw a group of professional looking ghost hunters on the second and third floors! Such an amazing place with great history which brings back memories of escaping church camp at the nearby Sarimbun Scout Camp for supper to have roti prata and char kway teow! This was back in ’99 but a pity i was only 12 and couldn’t appreciate the history. I would love to go back during the day to take photos!
my mum used to sell hor fun at the coffeeshop in Neo Tiew and my aunt and uncle used to sell drinks there. I remember there is a circular shaped sand pit where there used to be many pigeons. It was kind of weird when I revisited the place as a FIBUA ground and people were calling the place I spent part of my childhood as a haunted place.