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.
Read more about this topic: Pasir Ris
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