Pulau Bahru

Pulau Bahru
Media
A photo of a waterfront in Singapore, showing the glass facade of a museum sitting in front of a residential tower.

The DotDesign Museum has been publicised by the government as the face of Pulau Bahru.

Location

Southeast Asia

Area

900 ha

Administration

Singapore

Population

1,550

Pulau Bahru (Malay: new island) is a 900-hectare artificial island and waterfront district located on the southeastern coast of Singapore. It was created through extensive land reclamation that began in 2025 and was completed in 2046.

Developed for housing with coastal parks and recreational spaces, Pulau Bahru was originally scheduled to open on October 1st 2049 with the unveiling of the DotDesign Museum, but the ceremony has been postponed following the death of Xu Shaoyong.

Table of contents

  1. History
  2. Description
  3. Criticism
  4. See also
  5. References

History

Pulau Bahru was first mentioned in the early 1990s as a concept in Singapore‘s Master Plan. Due to the rapid onset of anthropogenic climate change, the government began doing technical studies accompanied by a vigorous campaign of public engagement in 2019. With around 30% of Singapore’s land sitting less than five metres above mean sea level, the island of Pulau Bahru was proposed to increase living space as well as alleviate the danger of rising sea levels. [1]

Physical land reclamation on Pulau Bahru began in 2025 and was completed in 2046. CommuneCorp, a major South Korean construction firm that specialises in land reclamation and marine infrastructure, was the primary contractor.

Description

Pulau Bahru is situated on the southeastern coast of Singapore, stretching from Marina East to Changi. Land on Pulau Bahru has been reclaimed to a higher level to form a line of defence against rising sea levels. Its coastal perimeter includes fifteen outlet drains as well as new tidal gates and pumping stations to channel water into a reservoir.

The island is comprised of waterfront parks, recreational and low-density commercial spaces, private residences, and a new tier of public housing based on Singapore’s white flat programme.

Designed by ROJAK, the DotDesign Museum has been billed as the “capstone piece of architecture” of Pulau Bahru. [2]

Criticism

While Singapore has stated that Pulau Bahru was formed entirely using government-produced NEWSand, independent observers have claimed that NEWSand only makes up about a third of the island’s mass, and that its bulk consists of aggregrate sand acquired through illegal sand mining. [3]

Singapore has experienced criticism from many of its Southeast Asian neighbours for its aggressive sand acquisition. Sand exports to Singapore have been largely banned, though trade continues through powerful sand syndicates. [4] Unchecked mining operations have destroyed riverbanks, farmland, and many of the villages in the surrounding areas, causing violent displacement, illness and injury, starvation, loss of livelihood, and death.

See also

References

  1. Singapore Government. (January 2020). “Master Plan 2020.” Urban Redevelopment Authority. ↩
  2. Tan, S. (July 2049). “Making room for art to breathe.” The Straits Times. ↩
  3. Alvers, A. (November 2045) “Sand-grabbing Singapore accused of illegal land reclamation.” ReliefWeb. ↩
  4. Sathirakul, V. (May 2027). “Sand fuels the most powerful organised crime rings in India.” Rest of World. ↩