populous town in Singapore, with 232,700 residents (as of 2018). Amidst rapid ongoing development in Tampines North and with a projected ultimate of 110,000 dwelling units, Tampines is expected to become the most populous town in Singapore in the near future. Regarded as a mature estate by the Government, it is the first estate in Singapore to employ its own municipal services office, given the variety of municipal issues it has to handle. Enforcement of certain minor infractions has also been delegated to Tampines Municipal Services through its enforcement officers. Etymology The name Tampines goes back to the Franklin and Jackson map of 1828. It is named after Sungei Tampines, which in turn got its name from the tempinis trees (Malay for Streblus elongatus) which were said to be growing by it. History In the past, Tampines was covered by forests, swamp, and sand quarries. Ironwood trees, or tempinis in Malay, grew abundantly. The area was part of a military training area until about 1987. The oldest street in the area, Tampines Road, dates to 1864 when it was a cart track. At the turn of the 20th century, Tampines was a rubber plantation. Tampines was also home to the sand quarry for a long time. Among the plantations were Teo Tek Ho and Hun Yeang estates. The new town started in 1978. Construction began for Neighbourhoods 1 and 2 and was completed between 1983 and 1987, although they were given priority. Neighbourhoods 8 and 9 began in 1985–1989, followed by Neighbourhood 5, which was completed in 1989 with the Tampines Town Centre. Neighbourhood 4 was completed with the new Tampines North Division between 1986 and 1988. Tampines Town was at the fast-paced expansion that breaks it into Tampines East, Tampines West, Tampines North, and Tampines Changkat divisions. For the Singapore MRT plans, they showed "Tampines North" and "Tampines South" since the planning stages, which is due to the similar townships from 1979 to 1982, before they were renamed respectively in 1985 to Tampines and Simei. New construction methods expedited the development of the town's infrastructure. More attractive designs, colours, and finishings were incorporated into Tampines than earlier public housing, which consisted of uniform slabs of concrete laid out row after row with more thought given to function than form. The Town Centre was planned as an hourglass shape to create a unique urban design form. The Housing and Development