Bukit Merah


Bukit Merah, often abbreviated as Bt Merah and 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. Bukit Merah also shares a maritime boundary with the Southern Islands planning area located beyond its southernmost point. Bukit Merah is the most populated planning area in the Central Region, and the 12th most populated planning area in the country overall, being home to more than 150,000 residents.

Etymology

Bukit Merah translates to Red Hill or Redhill in Malay, and is a reference to the red-coloured lateritic soil found on the hill. According to the Sejarah Melayu, Singapore used to be plagued by swordfish attacking the people living in the coastal regions. 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 eventually become 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 as "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 a new harbour.
Mount Faber was once known as Telok Blangah Hill. Its name was changed to Mount Faber after Captain Edward Faber cut the road up to the top in 1845 to set up 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.
With the earliest records of Bukit Merah's existence in the Malay Annals, the town had a huge role to play in the early maritime trade of the Kingdom of Singapura.
The town's fertile red soil was employed to great effect, when it was a district rich in gambier cultivation during British colonial rule.
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 of what would eventually become the first new town in the Republic, 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 several subzones within the planning area, namely Alexandra, Bukit Ho Swee, Bukit Merah Central, Depot Road, Everton Park, HarbourFront, Henderson, Redhill, Singapore General Hospital, Telok Blangah and Tiong Bahru.

Subzones

Transportation

Mass Rapid Transit

There are currently 5 MRT stations that serve the planning area across 3 lines, the East West Line, Circle Line and North East Line. HarbourFront MRT station is an interchange station between the North East Line and the Circle Line, which is also the current terminus for both lines. The 5 stations are :
Future stations that are currently under construction include:
Havelock MRT station of the Thomson-East Coast Line, that will be operational in 2021, is situated near to the Bukit Ho Swee estate, making Bukit Merah the planning area that has the second-most number of MRT lines passing through it, following the Central Area. 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 2025.

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 links the interchange to Tiong Bahru MRT station. There are two feeder services originating from the interchange which serves the Telok Blangah estate. The HarbourFront Bus Interchange is located at the southern part of Bukit Merah, serving nearby amenities such as the HarbourFront Centre and VivoCity, the largest shopping mall in Singapore. The Kampong Bahru Bus Terminal is located along Spooner Road, near the vicinity of the Singapore General Hospital

Education

Bukit Merah consists of several Primary and Secondary schools with Alexandra Primary School being the newest school.

Primary schools

Places of Worship

Buddhist Temples

Shopping Centres

Parks

Sports facilities

Bukit Merah belongs to five political divisions in 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. The members of Parliament as of 2020 elections were Indranee Rajah, Joan Pereira, Melvin Yong, Eric Chua, Rachel Ong and Josephine Teo.