Bukit Merah


Bukit Merah, also known as Redhill, is a planning area and new town situated in the southernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. The planning area borders Tanglin to the north, Queenstown to the west, and the Downtown Core, Outram and Singapore River planning areas of the Central Area to the east. It also shares a maritime boundary with the Southern Islands planning area to the south. Bukit Merah is linked to Sentosa Island via Sentosa Gateway, Sentosa Broadwalk, Sentosa Express, and the Cable Car.
Bukit Merah planning area also includes two offshore islands which are linked to the mainland by road, namely Pulau Brani and Keppel Island. It is the most populous planning area in the Central Region and the 12th most populous in the country, with more than 150,000 residents.

Etymology

Bukit Merah translates to “red hill” in Malay, and is a reference to the red-coloured lateritic soil found on the hill. According to the Sejarah Melayu, Singapore was once plagued by swordfish attacking people living along the coast. A young boy named Hang Nadim proposed an ingenious solution to build a wall of banana stems along the coast at the present location of Tanjong Pagar.
When the swordfish attacked, their snouts were stuck in the stems. With the swordfish problem solved, Hang Nadim earned great respect from the people, but also jealousy from the rulers. The fourth King of Singapura, Paduka Seri Maharaja, finally ordered his execution, and it was said that his blood soaked the soil of the hill where he was killed, giving rise to the red-coloured hill.
The hill was eventually trimmed to its current state in 1973, when it made way for Redhill Close and what would become the now-defunct Henderson Secondary School. During its existence, a Chinese cemetery was situated on the reverse side of this hill, which is today the location of Tiong Bahru.

History

Keppel Harbour dates back to the 14th century when an ancient Chinese traveller, Wang Dayuan named the harbour"Long-Ya-Men" or "Dragon Teeth Gate" after two rock outcrops located near Labrador Park, which resembled dragon's teeth. The two rock outcrops were subsequently blown up by the Straits Settlements Surveyor, John Thomson, in August 1848 to widen the entrance to a new harbour.
With the earliest records of Bukit Merah's existence in the Malay Annals, the town had a considerable role to play in the early maritime trade of the Kingdom of Singapura.
Mount Faber was once known as Telok Blangah Hill. Its name was changed to Mount Faber after Captain Edward Faber cut a road to the top in 1845 to establish a signal station. The Singapore General Hospital site dates back to 1882. Labrador Nature Park was used as a defence outpost in the 19th century until World War II.
The town's fertile red soil was put to great effect during British colonial rule, when it was a district rich in gambier cultivation.
Even before the industrialisation of Jurong, Bukit Merah already had a small head start in the emerging heavy industry market in Singapore. With the first brickwork factories and mills emerging in the precincts of Henderson Hill and Redhill as early as the 1930s.
The town is also home to the first housing estate in the country, Tiong Bahru, which was developed by the Singapore Improvement Trust in the backdrop of a rapidly growing population in post-war Singapore. The estate later became the basis for the Republic's first new town, Queenstown.

Geography

According to the various master plans laid out by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Bukit Merah is bounded by Alexandra Canal and the Singapore River to the north and HarbourFront and Keppel Bay to the south, Kim Seng Road, Outram Road and Cantonment Road to the east and Alexandra Road to the west. There are 17 subzones within the planning area, including Alexandra, Bukit Ho Swee, Bukit Merah, City Terminals, Depot Road, Everton Park, HarbourFront, Henderson Hill, Redhill, Singapore General Hospital, Telok Blangah and Tiong Bahru.

Subzones

Transportation

Mass Rapid Transit

Outram Park MRT station was the first station to open in the planning area in 1987, followed by the namesake Redhill MRT station and Tiong Bahru MRT station in 1988. Today, there are currently 7 MRT stations that serve the planning area across four lines, the East West line, Circle line, North East line and the Thomson-East Coast line. HarbourFront MRT station is an interchange station between the North East and Circle lines, and is also the current terminus for both lines. Outram Park MRT station was initially a double-line interchange station between the East-West and North-East lines. Still, it became a triple-line interchange station after the commencement of the third stage of the Thomson–East Coast line in 2022. The seven stations are:
Future stations that are currently under construction include:
The future stations, Keppel and Cantonment will be located within the new town as part of Stage 6 of the Circle line that will be completed by 2026.
During the 2025 Committee of Supply debate, Minister for Transport Chee Hong Tat announced that feasibility studies are underway for a proposed MRT line, tentatively named the Tengah line. If found feasible, the line, which will serve areas including Bukit Merah, could be built from the 2040s.

Bus

There are two bus interchanges and one bus terminal in the new town. The Bukit Merah Bus Interchange, which serves Bukit Merah, is located at Bukit Merah Town Centre. Service Number 132 links the Interchange to Redhill MRT station while bus services 5, 16, and 851 link the interchange to Tiong Bahru MRT station. Two feeder services originate from the interchange serving the Telok Blangah estate. The HarbourFront Bus Interchange is located in the southern part of Bukit Merah, serving nearby amenities such as the HarbourFront Centre and VivoCity, Singapore's largest shopping mall. The Kampong Bahru Bus Terminal is located along Spooner Road, near the vicinity of the Singapore General Hospital.

Education

Primary schools

  • Alexandra Primary School
  • Blangah Rise Primary School
  • Cantonment Primary School
  • CHIJ Kellock
  • Gan Eng Seng Primary School
  • Radin Mas Primary School
  • Zhangde Primary School

    Secondary schools

  • Bukit Merah Secondary School
  • CHIJ St. Theresa's Convent
  • Crescent Girls' School
  • Gan Eng Seng School

    Tertiary institutions

  • Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School

    Other schools

  • Academy of Singapore Teachers
  • APSN Tanglin School
  • ISS International School
  • North London Collegiate School
  • Shelton College International

    Amenities

Places of worship

Buddhist temples

Bukit Merah falls within six political divisions across four constituencies. A large portion of Bukit Merah is under Tanjong Pagar GRC with some areas under Jalan Besar GRC, Radin Mas SMC and West Coast GRC, served by the People's Action Party. As of the 2020 General election, the Members of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC are Indranee Rajah for Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru division, Joan Pereira for Henderson-Dawson division, and Eric Chua for Queenstown division. Melvin Yong is the current Member of Parliament for Radin Mas SMC, Rachel Ong for Telok Blangah division of West Coast GRC, and Josephine Teo for Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng division of Jalan Besar GRC. The planning area is overseen by three town councils: Tanjong Pagar Town Council, West Coast Town Council, and Jalan Besar Town Council.
Bukit Merah is covered by two Community Development Councils, Central Singapore District and South West District. Denise Phua is the current mayor for Central CDC, and Low Yen Ling is the current mayor for South West CDC.