For those younger Singaporeans who are least concern about politics, the main takeaway of the 2019 National Day Rally recently was the announcing of the development of Greater Southern Waterfront which is one of the highlights that caused much excitement will be the future development of the public housings, Build-to-Order (BTO) flats, on the site of the current Keppel Club.
Yes, that is right. There will be BTO flats by the Housing Development Board (HDB) in the uber-premium district. This estate will be likely to be another Pinnacle at Duxton. Likelihood there will be many real estate investor hopefuls that will be monitoring the HDB’s website for the balloting exercise for this upcoming public housing.
The development of Greater Southern Waterfront will be far more than just these “premium” BTO flats. There is much more in store for this upcoming district. This article will provide the 7 known facts of this upcoming estate.
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Where exactly is the Greater Southern Waterfront?
Imagine the Greater Southern Waterfront will be like the Marina Bay area but with 2 more arms that extend to its left and its right. The entire area will be spanning from the Pasir Panjang and the extension to its west will be the West Coast Park with Gardens by the Bay extending to its east. The site will also be extending southwards which will include the Sentosa Island.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had jokingly compared Punggol with the Greater Southern Waterfront but as the matter of fact, it will be very dissimilar to Punggol.
The Marina South area, the Harbourfront area as well as the area of Pasir Panjang at the present are already much developed and these areas also have good degree of economic and historical significance.
As the matter of fact, the main factor that drives this Greater Southern Waterfront development is actually the shifting to the Tanjong Pagar Port Terminal and the Pasir Panjang Port Terminal, both having long history, to the Tuas Mega Port. With the shifting of these 2 terminal ports, it will free up large amount of space that can be used for redevelopment.
This Greater Southern Waterfront will be deemed to be about 6 times more than the area of the Marina Bay which will comprise a coastline that is in total 30 kilometres long. In comparison, the coastline of the East Coast Park is 15 kilometres in length only.
Below is a video that is done up by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) that will give a more in-depth explanation on the size and location of Greater Southern Waterfront.
Some of the New Condominium Launches in the Greater Southern Waterfront
Kent Ridge Hill Residences
One Pearl Bank
Avenue South Residence
1. There will be approximate 9,000 private and public new homes to be developed on the site of the current Keppel Club at the Greater Southern Waterfront.
The redevelopment of the Greater Southern Waterfront will be in phrase. The development of the BTOs at the current Keppel Club will be one of the earlier phrases at the Greater Southern Waterfront.
For those who are uninitiated, the Keppel Club is a country club which golf courses that is located in the Telok Blangah district. The lease of the club for the land parcel will be expiring in 2 years’ time. The Singapore government has already plans in place to redevelop this piece of land for the purpose of housings.
The exciting thing for Singaporeans will be that a portion of these housing units which is approximately 9,000 in number will comprise of public homes which will be the BTOs flats from the HDB. For those who are able to get a BTO unit at here, they will be comparing it to winning a lottery. There will be expectations that these flats will have capital appreciations much like those at Pinnacle at Duxton which owners bought their BTO flats at $450K during balloting and managed to sell them for $1 million upon meeting their Minimum Occupation Period (MOP).
But to look at it realistically, the likelihood is that the number for public housings at the Keppel Club site might not be a lot for the reason being that piece of land is very valuable. Even with the removal of the Keppel Club, the vicinity will be still a playground for the rich and wealthy. The Marina at Keppel Bay will still remain there with many luxurious yachts will be parking at the club’s berth. There is also a number of luxury condominiums in this area.
The likelihood of here to becoming a key estate for public housing such as one in Punggol area will not be very high. That is to say, with the very limited supply of public housing in this land parcel, many interested parties will be more aggressive in terms of getting a BTO flat here. There have already been discussions to implement tighter measures for these BTO flats such as a shorter lease term, having the resale levies higher as well as longer MOP in order not to have a fiasco like what happens to the Pinnacle at Duxton.
2. The MRT Stations of the Circle Line extension as well as the upcoming Thomson East Coast Line will be ready by 2025.
The Greater Southern Waterfront is no doubt a very centralized location but at the moment, the MRT network there is still not very comprehensive.
Currently, the MRT Circle Line serves the western front of this precinct with the Harbourfront MRT station, the Telok Blangah MRT station, the Labrador Park MRT station, the Pasir Panjang MRT station as well as the Haw Par Villa MRT station all situated near to the stretch of the western coastline.
Come 2023, the accessibility to the Greater Southern Waterfront’s eastern side will be much enhanced with the completion of the MRT Thomson East Coast Line. This eastern stretch will be served by the Tanjong Rhu MRT station, the Gardens by the Bay MRT station and the Marina South MRT station.
With the inception of the MRT Thomson East Coast Line, it will then leave only the Greater Southern Waterfront’s middle part without connectivity of the MRT network. This part will be have its connectivity in year 2025 with the completion of closing the “circle” for the MRT Circle Line. The extension of the MRT Circle Line will encompass of 3 new MRT stations which are the Prince Edward MRT station. The Cantonment MRT station and the Keppel MRT station which these 3 MRT stations will be situated right in the middle of this district.
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3. The Brani Terminal will be redeveloped to be the second Sentosa Island with a resort “Downtown South”.
Currently home to the Brani Terminal of the Port Authority of Singapore (PSA), Pulau Brani is a small fragment of an island located in between Sentosa and the main Singapore Island. It is likely to be redevelopment into something that will complement the Sentosa Island.
The Brani Terminal like the rest of the port terminals of PSA will be shifting to the Tuas Mega Port. This island will then be freed up to build more new leisure attractions alongside with the Universal Studio Singapore (USS) located on Sentosa Island as mentioned by Prime Minister Lee during the 2019 National Day Rally.
One of the leisure attractions that were confirmed is a “Downtown South” leisure resort which basically is offshoot of Downtown East that is located in Pasir Ris. Will the chalets and waterscape theme park at Downtown East be replaced by villas and golf course in “Downtown South”? Only in due time it will tell.
4. There will be a “rejuvenation of the Sentosa Island.
At the meantime, the Sentosa Island, which has been becoming lackluster with the wearing off of its novelty of Resort World Sentosa (RWS), will also plan to undergo some transformation.
There have been discussions on ways to enhance the leisure amenities and infrastructure of the Sentosa Island ever since 2018.
One of the enhancements done at present is that 3 new hotels have sprung up on the Sentosa Island which are The Barracks Hotel, The Outpost Hotel and the Village Hotel, Sentosa. The island is also having work in progress with some other bigger anticipation to come.
The Siloso Green will be one of the new leisure attractions that is already on the confirmed list. It will be located at the land parcel of that previously housed the Underworld World. The Siloso Green will be housing eateries, bars, shops and live music pubs in the shipping containers.
Prime Minister Lee had also stated in the National Day Rally that the Singapore government will be revitalizing the beaches of the Sentosa Island with the expansions of its heritage and nature trails which is interpreted to more on the conservation of the heritage of the Sentosa Island.
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5. The defunct power stations will transform to the next St James?
One of the transformations to be looking forward to in the next 5-10 years’ time will be the Power District of Pasir Panjang which comprises of the 2 defunct power stations that are located between the current port terminal of Pasir Panjang and the Labrador Natural Reserve.
These 2 power stations that were constructed in the 1950s and the 1960s are currently decommissioned and set to be transformed to a destination for lifestyle which will be similar to the infamous St James Power Station.
In fact, the URA had organized a competition, “Power Up Pasir Panjang!” earlier in 2019 for the public to participate with the redevelopment ideas for these disused power stations. However, there is no announcement for the winner of the competition till date.
6. There might be “mini cable cars” on Mount Faber by the year 2023.
Other than the Power District of Pasir Panjang and the Keppel Club, the last jigsaw puzzle of the 2019 Master Plan by the URA will be the Mount Faber Hill.
Although the Mount Faber Hill has a superior location, it is not able to gain much footfall currently. With that, the company that is responsible for managing the businesses as well as the operation of the cable cars for Mount Faber, One Faber Group, at this moment is planning to bring in new batch of “cable cars” that will transport visitors from the foot to the top of the hill.
In addition to enhance the accessibility of the Mount Faber Hill, the new ride will also be allowing visitors to get to the Southern Ridges. The Southern Ridges is the stretch of walkways and parks that connects from the Kent Ridge to the Mount Faber. If this new ride comes to reality, it should come into operations by year 2023.
7. There will be waterfront promenade, nature trails, rail corridor and more at the Greater Southern Waterfront.
The Greater Southern Waterfront will have an amazing amount of nature and greenery. On the western tip there will be the Kent Ridge Park and the West Coast Park, Towards the South direction, there are the Mount Faber Park, the HortPark and the Labrabor Natural Reserve and in the Eastern portion, there will be the Southern and Eastern parts of the Gardens by the Bay.
For those nature lovers, they will be glad to know there will be no plan in place for removal of these green spaces in order to free up lands for the redevelopments of the Greater Southern Waterfront. Instead, nature lovers will be looking forward to more trails that will be connecting together these verdant habitats.
Out of these planned trails, the most worthy to note will be the Linear Park of Pasir Panjang which will be a long extension that will stretch from the current wharves that will be vacated, located at Pasir Panjang, up to the Labrador Natural Reserve and the West Coast Park. This trail which is alongside the coastline has the potential to be the next East Coast Park.
Another major redevelopment will be the waterfront promenade that is planned by the URA. This waterfront promenade will link up majority of the Greater Southern Waterfront’s western coast. With this development, there will be possibility in the future that the public can cycle or jog from the Marina Bay start point and to end point at the Jurong district using this waterfront promenade.
Last but not least, with the reopening of the Rail Corridor after all these developments, portion of it will pass through this Greater Southern Waterfront. The Rail Corridor linear park’s starting point which will be at the old railway station at Tanjong Pagar that is situated close to the historical port terminal at Tanjong Pagar. This trail that previously was the railway track will extend right up to the Woodlands district.
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