PWD To Exhume Graves In Peck San Theng
Sunday, 4th November 1979
Public Works Department (PWD) announced that they will exhume 170,000 graves in Peck San Theng Cantonese Cemetery located next to Marymount Road. One of the tomb affected belongs to the late Wong Ah Fook. The exhumed remains will be created at Mount Vernon Crematoria and rehoused in new niches at Bishan Kwong Wai Siew Peck San Theng. After the graves are removed, the Housing Development Board (HDB) planned to build low-income housing on the 131-hectare land and rename Peck San Theng Cementary to Bishan Housing Estate (Bishan New Town).
Photo Credit: Flickr.
Peck San Theng was paid only $4.95 million and a 3-hectare land with a 99-year lease as compensation for the 131-hectare burial land in Bishan. The three hectare of land around the site of the two temples – Bishan Temple and Fu Te Chi (Earth God Temple) – was used to build an administration building, a memorial park and a 100,000-niche capacity columbarium.