SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to remake its southern coast, with a continuous 120km-long waterfront stretching from Pasir Panjang Terminal to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal offering many possibilities to imagine and build its future city, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
As part of this transformation, new homes will be added to waterfront precincts near the city, in Marina East and Nicoll — an area between Marina Bay and the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang.
Singapore's southern coastline will eventually comprise the Greater Southern Waterfront, Marina Bay, Kallang Basin and the future Long Island project, which could create 800ha of reclaimed land off East Coast Park.
Speaking about these plans in his maiden National Day Rally speech on Aug 18, PM Wong said these major investments "will take decades to bear fruit", as did plans to reclaim and develop Marina Bay, which began right after Singapore gained independence in 1965.
"Starting now, we can lay the foundations for a better Singapore in the decades to come," the Prime Minister said during the rally, which is seen as the most significant political speech of the year.
The continuous 120km coastline, which also covers the waterfronts of Sentosa and Brani islands, will be made accessible through waterfront promenades and parks, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in a statement.
On plans to remake the city centre, PM Wong noted that three water bodies — Marina Bay, Marina Channel and Kallang Basin — form a "continuous waterfront in the heart of our city".
Speaking from ITE College Central in Ang Mo Kio, he highlighted five residential and mixed-use waterfront precincts to be developed near these water bodies.
Of the five, Nicoll and Marina East are yet to be developed. Plans for Kampong Bugis and Marina South were announced earlier, and Tanjong Rhu has existing homes with new flats in the works.
Noting that Nicoll and Kampong Bugis are near historic districts, PM Wong said the two precincts will have new residential and recreational uses, so that "a new generation of Singaporeans can realise their ideas for our ever-evolving city".
URA said detailed plans for the Nicoll precinct, which spans about 59ha, are being studied in conjunction with the future Bay Central Garden. Together, the Bay Central, Bay South and Bay East gardens form Gardens by the Bay.
PM Wong said the authorities will build a pedestrian bridge to link Bay South Garden with Bay East Garden and the Founders' Memorial, which is slated to open in 2028.
Bay East Garden and the Founders' Memorial are in the 150ha Marina East, which will become a mainly residential precinct with a mix of housing options, said URA.
Sports, recreational and healthcare facilities as well as schools and parks will be included in the precinct, for which detailed development plans are being studied, said the agency.
Marina East and the 45ha Marina South, where development is already under way, can be sustainable and car-lite with cycling networks and pedestrian-friendly streets, said PM Wong. Marina South will have more than 10,000 homes.
Detailed development plans are also under study for Kampong Bugis, a future 17.4ha housing precinct that was set to have 4,000 private homes but was removed from URA's list of Government Land Sales sites in 2022 due to delays in soil remediation works.
Soil treatment was needed as chemicals typically found in land used for gas production were found on the site, which previously housed Kallang Gasworks.
Over in the 88ha Tanjong Rhu, new homes are also being added to the more than 5,000 existing ones there. The Tanjong Rhu Riverfront I and II Build-To-Order projects launched in June are the first public housing projects there in 60 years.
URA chief executive Lim Eng Hwee told The Straits Times earlier that Singapore's two cruise terminals, in HarbourFront and Marina South, will be consolidated as part of plans to "stitch up the entire waterfront". The Singapore Cruise Centre in HarbourFront is set to move, while the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore was in 2018 reported to be under consideration for expansion.
Dr Harvey Neo, a professorial research fellow at the Singapore University of Technology and Design's Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, said a continuous 120km coastline provides an unprecedented integration of "work, live and play".
He noted, however, that many coastal developments abroad have become exclusive living spaces for the affluent. Careful planning, particularly in the provision of housing, is therefore needed for Singapore's waterfront precincts not to go down this path.
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Dr Neo said it is sound to add mixed-use developments that include housing to these precincts, as it addresses the problem of business and financial areas emptying out after office hours, thereby making more efficient use of Singapore's scarce land.
Turning to his time studying in Michigan in the US, PM Wong said he had learnt about "one of the most famous ghost towns" in Michigan state, which was named Singapore. Founded in the 1830s, it became a busy lumber and ship-building town.
While the origins of the town's name are unknown, he said it was "very likely inspired by a British port in the exotic Far East founded in 1819". Sir Stamford Raffles founded a trading port here in 1819, setting the stage for the development of modern Singapore.
Michigan's Singapore survived about five decades before shifting sand dunes swallowed it, and a signboard remains the only marker of its existence, said PM Wong.
Shifting his focus back to the Republic, he said: "We want this Singapore to be around for a very long time — for the next thousand years and beyond.
"You and I won't be around for so long, but our faith in Singapore will endure. Our Singapore spirit will not fade. It will live on in every generation that calls this island home," he said.
Rounding off his speech, PM Wong said he believes Singapore's best days lie ahead, adding that the country has "new ambitions to pursue" and is "taking bold steps to turn our hopes into reality".
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
