Land use masterplan: What’s in it for your neighbourhood?

SINGAPORE — Over the next decade or so, Singapore is embarking on an ambitious plan to rejuvenate its neighbourhoods while preserving its heritage, nurture lush greens amid an urban landscape and develop business and community infrastructure islandwide so that everyone has easy access to jobs and amenities.

All of these plans have been laid out in a draft masterplan by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), made public on Wednesday (March 27).

Members of the public have until April 25 to give their feedback on the plans.

TODAY takes a look at what’s being planned for your neighbourhood.

NORTH

Like ‘Our Tampines Hub’, but in the North

In 2020, Sembawang will be the first outside of Tampines to get its own version of this souped up community centre, on a 12-hectare plot of land near Sembawang MRT station.

Called Bukit Canberra, it will have amenities such as a hawker centre, indoor and outdoor sport facilities, a polyclinic, a senior care centre and green spaces for community farming.

Punggol dwellers will also get one, called Punggol Town Hub, in 2021.

It will be located opposite Waterway Point mall.

Another is planned in Buangkok, which would serve residents living closer to Hougang and Sengkang.

Cycling and walking paths

A 50km continuous belt of green recreational space along the northern coast will connect Changi to Lim Chu Kang.

The portion of the route, called the Greater Rustic Coast, will make it possible to cycle through the following landmarks: Coney Island, Yishun Dam, Sembawang Park, Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat (a nature park that will open in 2022), and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve.

This will be part of the Round Island Route, a continuous 150km park connector that goes around Singapore.

New recreational hub at Kranji Racecourse

The Singapore Racecourse, where the Singapore Turf Club runs thoroughbred horse racing, is set to become a site for family activities.

New homes

More homes will be built in these areas: Admiralty Road West, Woodlands North Coast, Woodlands Central, Woodlands South, Lorong Chencharu, Yishun Avenue 6/8, Miltonia, Springleaf, Tagore, Lentor Hills, Punggol Point, Punggol Matilda, Punggol Crescent, Fernvale Crescent, Amoy Quee, Kebun Baru, Sin Ming, Lorong Chuan and Hougang Avenue 3.

SOUTH/ CENTRAL

More homes in the CBD

As part of efforts to make the Central Business District (CBD) livelier outside of office hours, city planners have plans to ramp up the “live-in population” —  now 50,000 strong — by injecting more than 20,000 housing units in the downtown core and fringe areas.

These homes will be injected in places such as Anson Road, Cecil Street, Tanjong Pagar, Marina South and Rochor – near where the iconic colourful Rochor Centre public housing estate used to be sited.

“The breakdown on the number of housing units and development timeframe for the various areas will be subject to market conditions,” the URA said in response to queries.

Converting Robinson Road into a ‘transit priority corridor’

Government agencies are studying the possibility of transforming Robinson Road into a “transit priority corridor” with a dedicated bus lane and wider sidewalks for cyclists, personal mobility device users and pedestrians.

This would complement new MRT stations slated to open in the CBD by 2021 — Maxwell and Shenton Way stations on the Thomson-East Coast Line and Prince Edward Road and Cantonment stations on the Circle Line.

New lease of life for vacant state properties

More thought will be put into how vacant state properties such as 30 Maxwell Road in the Tanjong Pagar district can be repurposed, as well as how vacant land parcels in Marina Bay can be activated for short-term uses and to plug gaps in pedestrian links.

Particularly, a space near Marina One in the downtown core is being considered as a test-bed for new ideas to diversify the range of lifestyle offerings and amenities in town.

Construction of the Greater Southern Waterfront begins

Major changes are afoot to transform a 2,000ha area along the southern coastline from Pasir Panjang and Marina East, after the City Terminals and Pasir Panjang Terminal relocate to Tuas. The redevelopment work will start in as early as five years’ time at the Pasir Panjang Power District and the site of Keppel Club, an 18-hole golf course in Telok Blangah that will not get its lease renewed when it expires in 2021.

The old power district will be transformed into a lifestyle destination along the waterfront and the land currently occupied by the golf course will be used for housing.

Development of the site will be “sensitively carried out” to take into consideration the mangrove park nearby, Berlayer Creek, the URA said.

New homes

There will be new homes in Queensway, Stirling Road, Tanglin Halt, Keppel Club, Keppel Distripark, Anson, Spooner Road, Pearl’s Hill, Orchard/River Valley, Newton, Farrer Park Fields, Rochor Canal, Kampung Bugis, Marina South and Bidadari.

EAST

Aged, ‘familiar landmarks’ to become permanent fixtures

New public housing flats are slated to be built at Dakota Crescent, but planners intend to conserve six of the 15 low-rise Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) flats that were built in 1958.

The iconic dove playground will also be preserved.

The buildings, which were among Singapore’s oldest public housing estates, could be repurposed to host student hostels, among other uses.

Planners will also be retaining familiar landmarks at Farrer Park, such as the Farrer Park Swimming Pool and a former boxing gym, even as new housing options will be built there.

Ideas wanted for Paya Lebar Airbase site

In the later part of this year, city planners will be holding a competition seeking ideas on how the 800ha of land that the Paya Lebar Airbase currently sits on can be developed, after the airbase gets relocated to Changi and Tengah from 2030.

The total area to be redeveloped is five times the size of Toa Payoh town and freeing up the land will improve transport connectivity between the eastern and north-eastern parts of Singapore, the URA said.

URA’s preliminary ideas include retaining the area’s heritage by repurposing the former airport buildings and parts of the runway into community spaces.

New car-lite precinct at Bayshore

Some 10,000 waterfront housing units will be built at Bayshore, which is along the stretch of East Coast Park that is closer to Bedok.

Capitalising on two new Thomson-East Coast line stations that will soon serve the area, it is envisioned as a car-lite town, with streets that prioritise walking and cycling and a public transit street that will be lined with shops, food outlets and other amenities.

New homes

New homes will be built in Bayshore, Tampines South, Tampines North, Pasir Ris Drive 3, Haig Road, Dakota Crescent, Tanjong Rhu and the site of the current Paya Lebar Airbase (after 2030).

WEST

Greater buzz around the Rail Corridor

Works to enhance a central 4km stretch of the 24km Rail Corridor, between Hillview Avenue and Bukit Timah Railway Station, are ongoing and will complete in 2021.

The former Bukit Timah Fire Station building and the Beauty World area will act as “gateways” to the green corridor, connecting it with other nature attractions such as the Coast-to-Coast trail and Rifle Range Nature Park.

The fire station, which will become the main entrance to the Rail Corridor, will get a visitor centre, while Beauty World will get an uplift featuring “lush landscaping” and street-level activities.

A new Bukit Timah Community Centre

Bukit Timah residents will get a new community centre that will house a market and hawker centre.

Higher-value jobs in the West

The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line, which will serve the western part of Singapore by 2035, will help to connect workers to the high-value jobs expected to be created by the development of the Jurong Lake District, Jurong Innovation District and Tuas Terminal.

The Jurong Lake District will cover a 360ha area, which will be the largest business district outside the CBD.

The Jurong Innovation District will stretch across a 600ha swathe of land incorporating Nanyang Technological University, CleanTech Park, Bulim, Bahar and Tengah areas.

Tuas Terminal, slated to be the world’s largest container terminal in a single location, will be able to handle up to 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units of cargo a year when it is fully developed by the 2040s.

New homes

New homes will be built in Tengah, Dairy Farm, Holland Plain, Woodlands Road, Hillview, Jalan Jurong Kechil, West Coast Vale and the Jurong Lake District.