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 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.
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 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 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.
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 a new harbour.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 4 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 line and the Circle line, which 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 but became a triple-line interchange station after the commencement of the third stage of the Thomson–East Coast line in 2022. The 7 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.
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. 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.
Bukit Merah belongs to six 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. 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, namely Tanjong Pagar Town Council (TPTC), West Coast Town Council (WCTC) and Jalan Besar Town Council (JBTC).
Bukit Merah is covered by two Community Development Councils (CDC), 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.