Sengkang New Town, was in the midst of development, since 1997,
when the URA Master Plan was unveiled to include 2 new towns -
Sengkang & Punggol which is located at the north-east side of
Singapore. Sengkang was named after a rural road named Lorong
Sengkang off Punggol Rd and bound by Cheng Lim Farmway roads, just
like the rural roads in Bukit Panjang - the current roads in Bukit
Panjang were also named after the rural roads.
As the north eastern bus services in Singapore were under the TIBS
territory, Sengkang fell under TIBS territory, when its very first
bus service, 860, from Sengkang to Hougang South (St 21) was
introduced on 12 Jun 1998.
Kangkar New Town started construction in 1995 at Rivervale.
But even before the New Town started construction, there were
already a few block of 4 storeys HDB flats in the area. The name of
the town was renamed to Sengkang in 1996. Lorong Sengkang was
actually off Lorong Buang Kok, not Punggol Rd. Part of Lorong Buang
Kok is today's Sengkang East Way.
The North Eastern (Punggol and Sengkang) bus services were
under Tibs from 1995 to 1999 only. 1995 was the year when bus
services in Punggol, Kangkar (now Sengkang), Bukit Panjang, Jalan
Kayu, Seletar and Yishun (service 171) came under Tibs.
Tibs lose the tender to operate NEL and had to give up
control of Punggol, Sengkang, Jalan Kayu and Seletar back to SBST,
and in return, took Choa Chu Kang, Lim Chu Kang and Bukit Batok
under its control.