Eastern promise

One of the nicest parts of Singapore is the East. The prime attraction of living here is proximity to (and sometimes a view of) the sea, as well as fairly easy access to the CBD. Not surprisingly, the attractiveness of living in the East is reflected in the premium property prices this region [?] generally commands, second only to the traditional Orchard-Tanglin-Holland belt in the South-Centre.

The East is also blessed with a fairly moderate (by Singapore standards at any rate) climate [?], for during October to March, it experiences about 150 mm to 165 mm per month of rain on average, and for the rest of the year, less than 115 mm per month is the norm.

The region is characterised by large variations in population density. On the one hand, Bedok, Tampines and Simei all house in excess of 20000 people per square kilometre. On the other, Changi has of course fewer than 2500 people per square kilometre. In the middle are Paya Lebar and Pasir Ris, with between 10000 and 20000 people per square kilometre.

The average literacy rate [?] in the eastern region in 1990 was 91.3 percent, compared to the national average of 90.0 percent. Literacy in this region is thus the highest in Singapore.

I mentioned earlier that Toa Payoh got its name from the swampland which existed before it was developed in the mid-sixties. In a similar fashion, Paya Lebar has its roots in such a swamp too. Most of the East, except for Bedok and Changi Point, lie on Old Alluvium. Bedok lies on the Kallang Formation, and Changi Point on granite. The east coast, Changi and Pasir Ris have seen extensive reclamation, and will continue to see such, since 1966. So far, 1525 hectares have been reclaimed along the east coast. Sixty hectares have been earmarked at Pasir Ris for a wafer fabrication park.

One of the main reasons why Changi has been so extensively reclaimed was of course to build the airport, of which more than half is built on reclaimed land. About 26 million passenger movements were recorded in 1999. By the end of 1999, Singapore was linked to 150 cities in fifty countries by sixty-three airlines. By 2001, a 6.4 km extension of the MRT line will serve the airport, and by 2004, a third terminal will be operational at a cost of $1.5 billion. Total capacity at the airport will then be 64 million passenger movements annually. In fact, the go-ahead was given for the third terminal even before the existing terminals were anywhere near capacity. Why do you think this was so?

Still on the theme of transport and accessibility, the East is also significant for its other airport, the predecessor to Changi - namely, Paya Lebar. It served Singapore's civilian air traffic well from 1955 to 1980. In fact, this region [?] can lay claim to fame for contributing even to the predecessor of Paya Lebar - Kallang airport! For although Kallang airport lies in the South-Central region, the earth which was used to reclaim the Kallang basin in the early thirties came from none other than the present site of the Bedok Reservoir.

Apart from air travel, the East is a major gateway for travel by sea. With the new ferry terminal at Changi Creek

and another at Tanah Merah,

passengers can easily travel to Tanjong Belungkor

or to Tioman island, Sebana Cove, or the Riau archipelago

in an exceedingly short time.

757 k QuickTime movie (17 secs duration) on the significance of Tampines regional centre to transport links in the East
Source: Television Corporation of Singapore

A unique activity which practically cannot be found elsewhere in Singapore is that of intensive aquaculture, which is floating netcage fish farming, off Changi. Such fish farming is confined to those areas free of navigation and with depths of between five to thirteen metres at low tide. In 1997, there were eighty-four fish farms covering a total of forty-seven hectares (in addition to twenty-eight kelongs).

The floating netcage method ensures that detritus and uneaten food are swept away easily by the prevailing currents, through the nets. The constant water exchange also enables fish to be stocked fairly intensively. Another advantage is that the cages can be moved from site to site if the waters are polluted, or if environmental conditions (namely current, depth, oxygen, salinity and temperature) are otherwise unsuitable.

The fish farmers breed shrimp, lobsters, mangrove-crabs, rabbit-fish, wrasse, garoupa, seabass and golden snapper. These species grow well under confined conditions. The netcages are supported by wooden frames, which are in turn kept afloat by metal drums. The whole system is held in position by concrete blocks. The typical farm size is half a hectare and the cages are two metres deep, yielding nineteen tons per harvest. Assuming two harvests annually, this is equivalent to a yield of seventy-seven tons per hectare per year (some of which is exported).

The fish are fed small fish like goatfish. The feed is chopped to about 2.5 centimetres in size. Feeding is usually done twice daily, in the morning and evening.

The fish are under threat from pollution of coastal waters as a result of sewage discharge and industrial effluents. Sewage contributes bacteria, ammonia and phosphates, while heavy metals such as mercury and lead, as well as toxic chemicals from industrial effluents may all build up to lethal levels.

Plankton blooms may also occur. This refers to a sudden increase in the plankton population as a result of river discharge. If the bloom lasts beyond four days, many fish may die because of the anaerobic conditions.

Source: Primary Production Department (1986)

All these disadvantages, coupled with the unreliability of the current reliance of catching fingerlings from the sea, has led to the next initiative, which is deep-sea fish farms off the Southern Islands.

In January 1997, a $4 million pilot project between the PPD and a private consortium off St John's Island started. By 2001, thirty of these farms could supply, like their predecessors, ten percent of local consumption (which presently is about 130000 tonnes, or $780 million, per year). The goal is to reach forty percent by 2010. The plastic deep-sea fish farms will be centred around the PPD's aquaculture station, and cages will be up to fifteen metres deep and forty metres in diameter. These bigger cages, sixteen of which will comprise a typical farm, mean that fish are less stressed. They will breed and hatch their own equatorial species such as seabass, red snapper, pompano and threadfin, and will eventually have as much as ten times the capacity of present farms. Singapore will therefore be less dependent on Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines for fish.

Apart from fish farms, Singapore currently has a fishing fleet of seventy trawlers and 120 in-shore vessels, which bring in ten percent of the supply of fresh fish. The fleet is based at the 3.24 hectare Senoko Fishing Port (where the water is seven metres deep). The port has a wholesale market where fish are auctioned.

Another point of geographical interest in the East is taking place at Kampong Ubi. Over the past few years, there has been an increasing concentration of automobile dealerships in the Ubi area. The reasons for this are several. First, land rent [?] at Ubi is lower than that in a more central area. Relative ease of accessibility is thus forfeited for the sake of a higher profit margin.

Second, the opportunity cost [?], in terms of lost patronage, of the relocation to Ubi is minimized because of public recognition of the area as one which allows ready comparison of the different makes of automobile within a short space of each other.

In a change of focus, thirteen hectares have been set aside at Ubi by the Jurong Town Corporation for wafer fabrication and its supporting industries.

The East will see extensive development in the next three decades. By the year 2000, Tampines will have become a full-fledged Regional Centre [?], complete with its very own sixty-seven hectare business park [?], and forty-four hectares of wafer fabrication industry.

The latter will be the site of a seventeen hectare $1.3 billion joint venture between the EDB, Hitachi and Nippon Steel. When volume production starts in mid-1998, twenty thousand twenty-centimetre wafers will be produced monthly. The wafers will be bought by Hitachi, which will turn them into 64-megabit DRAM chips. These will be distributed through Hitachi and Nippon Steel.

Asia's first telecommunication park with direct access to Intelsat satellites and fibre optic links to submarine cable stations will also be located there.

Source: Singapore Telecom

Banks and finance-related businesses such as the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), Tat Lee Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Overseas Union Bank and the NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative are moving part of their backroom operations (for example, their data centres and administration, audit, human resource and training functions) to a 1.94 hectare finance park in Tampines. In fact, the DBS started operations there as long ago as in 1993.

This finance park will be a key financial centre outside the CBD. International and regional financing institutions are also being wooed because, as most of their transactions are done through computers alone, they do not require much face-to-face interactions with their clients. Rents in the finance park are currently about 35% lower than in the CBD.

In addition, Changi North will be developed for industry.

Pulau Ubin will have its trails improved and three Activity Areas (two of which are former quarries) will provide kampong-style accomodation and a public campsite. However, the NParks has assured Singaporeans that there will not be any cinemas, video arcades or theme parks on the island, yet. The island's four hundred inhabitants will not be resettled.

Source: The Straits Times

Virtually There at Changi - a 4169 k multi-node QuickTime VR panoramic tour.

By 2001, the MRT extension to Changi Airport would serve southeast Asia's largest exhibition venue - the Singapore Expo (to be completed in early 1999) - as well as a business park [?] at Changi South. The former will help Singapore maintain its position as the exhibition capital of the region. Built at a cost of $150 million, it will boast sixty thousand square metres of indoor exhibition space and ten thousand square metres outdoors. The latter will be for distribution and technology companies, and will mark the easternmost tip of the northeast technology corridor [?]. By 2010, the corridor will be serviced by the Deep-Tunnel Sewerage System, and Changi Bay and Paya Lebar will also see industrial development. The Paya Lebar Expressway will be built.

Source: The Business Times

By Year X, Bedok will have its own business park, and residential development will be extended to Changi Bay and even Pulau Ubin and Pulau Tekong. These two islands will also see some industrial development, and will be linked to the mainland by MRT. Tekong and Paya Lebar will be developed into sub-regional centres [?]. Eventually, there will be marinas at Bedok, Changi Bay and Pasir Ris, as well as at an 8.6 kilometre long island off the east coast, stretching from Marina East to Changi Bay.

This so-called 'Long Island' will be seven hundred hectares in size (which is twice the size of Sentosa) and will be served by a purpose-built MRT line with three stations. Reclaimed from the sea, it will include beaches, parks, twenty thousand housing units (enough for sixty-five thousand people), as well as a town centre and four neighbourhood centres, each with its own secondary school and one or two primary schools.

Source: The Business Times