The runway of Lim Chu Kang Road

Lim Chu Kang Road is a trunk road that has been serving the remote northwest of Singapore Island since 1931. Presently, it can be divided into two parts according to width. The southern stretch is a three-lane dual carriageway south of the junction with Ama Keng Road, while the northern stretch is a single-lane dual carriageway north of the junction.

Today, we explored the former, which runs for around 3.3km from the junction with Old Choa Chu Kang Road to Ama Keng Road.

The junction with Old Choa Chu Kang Road.

This 3.3km stretch also serves as an alternate runway for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). Since 1986, the RSAF has been practising launch and recovery operations on the alternate runway. The last exercise, Exercise Torrent, took place in November 2016.

It is clear that this stretch of road can be used as a runway - the road is straight and wide, there is plenty of open space, and there are only bushes, no trees. It is easy to imagine planes taking off and landing on this strip.

This alternate runway was created in the 1980s. Originally, all of Lim Chu Kang Road was a single-lane dual carriageway, and the stretch from Choa Chu Kang Road (now Old Choa Chu Kang Road) to Ama Keng Road was a reverse-C shape (see the 1978 street directory map below).

By 1984 (below), a straighter channel had been laid down, resulting in the expungement of a number of tracks, such as Lorong Pasak and Lorong Kikir. The original Lim Chu Kang Road was retained as Old Lim Chu Kang Road.

By 1991 (below), the land west of the new Lim Chu Kang Road was cleared for agriculture. Tracks such as Lorong Lihat, Lorong Ensel, and Lorong Pintu were expunged for Murai Farmway and its farms.

Lim Chu Kang Veterinary Station moved out sometime before 2009. Today, Old Lim Chu Kang Road is surrounded by military camps: Tengah Airbase, Lim Chu Kang Camp I, and Murai Camp.

The bus stops along this stretch of Lim Chu Kang Road are of the old, classic sort, hardly found anywhere else.

Opposite Lim Chu Kang Camp I.

The junction with Old Lim Chu Kang Road.

Always excited to see the remains of an old, defunct road - this time, it’s traces of Lorong Tukol.

Jalan Murai has survived, and now serves the Murai Urban Training Facility.

A bend lies ahead - and beyond, Lim Chu Kang Road narrows to a single-lane dual carriageway.

This stretch of Lim Chu Kang Road, and Old Lim Chu Kang Road, Jalan Murai, and Murai Farmway, all look to be on borrowed time - Tengah Airbase will be expanded westward in the next few years, changing the landscape of the area.

Things have already been set in motion. Around 80,000 Chinese and Muslim graves in Choa Chu Kang Cemetery Complex have been exhumed; the complex will see its size shrink by 100 hectares, or a third. The six farms of Murai Farmway have moved out. And roadworks to construct a new road to replace the runway stretch of Lim Chu Kang Road have already begun; the new road will be completed in 2025 (below).

Credit: Land Transport Authority.

One thing’s for sure - this area will see plenty of change in the next few years.

Change in Tanjong Pagar II

I dropped by Tanjong Pagar Railway Station yesterday.

Up to 30 June 2011, the railway station was the southern terminus of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu West Coast Railway Line.

Presently, it’s closed and off limits, as the site will be integrated with Cantonment MRT Station, one of three stations being constructed as part of Stage 6 of the Circle MRT Line. Cantonment station will open in 2026.

The front of the railway station, propped up to withstand years of construction work.

The railway station is along Spottiswoode Park Road.

The historic railway platforms behind the station have been removed and will be kept in storage during construction of the MRT station and line. They will be restored when construction is completed.

The MRT construction site. The railway platforms used to be here.

Here’s looking forward to the railway station being restored to its former glory in five years.

Change in Tanjong Pagar

Through the process of urban renewal, Singapore’s Central Business District rose above the ashes of a colonial town. From the 1960s to the 1990s, countless historic buildings were torn down for multi-use complexes and office skyscrapers.

But the wheels of urban renewal have not stopped turning - well-oiled by an open property market and the lure of good monetary returns. Some of these complexes and skyscrapers have been sold to developers and torn down to be replaced by newer buildings. The cranes and heavy machinery rumble on night and day.

This is playing out in the Tanjong Pagar area, between Tanjong Pagar Plaza and Keppel Road.

In 1983, 16-storey Euro-Asia Centre was completed at 15 Hoe Chiang Road. Nearby, 38-storey Fuji Xerox Towers at 80 Anson Road was completed in 1987. Then, in 1991, 27-storey Keppel Towers at 10 Hoe Chiang Road was completed, opposite Euro-Asia Centre. Not to be outdone, renovations were done on Euro-Asia Centre to extend its height by 13 storeys to 29 storeys in all; they were completed in 2004, and thereafter, it was renamed Tower Fifteen.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

Not one of these buildings will reach their fourth decade of existence. All of them were recently sold for redevelopment. Demolition of Keppel Towers and Tower Fifteen commenced earlier this year, and is still ongoing. Woe to the residents of 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, who have front-row seats to a cacophony of drilling and hacking (below).

Keppel Towers in the foreground, Tower Fifteen in the background.

A close-up of Keppel Towers.

And their woe looks set to continue as demolition of Fuji Xerox Towers is about to begin.

For now, Fuji Xerox Towers is still standing tall; meanwhile, in the foreground, work has begun on One Bernam, a 35-storey condominium project at 1 Bernam Street.

At ground level: In front, a building about to be born; behind, a building about to go.

One Bernam should be completed by 2026.

Credit: HY Realty & MCC Land.

The skyline of the southern part of Tanjong Pagar will be transformed in the next five years. Watch this space.