Everything about Jurong totally explained
» For other meanings of Jurong, see Jurong (disambiguation)
Jurong is a
constituency and town of
Singapore, located in the western part of the mainland, in the
West Region.
Etymology
Jurong is probably derived from the
Malay word
jerung, which means a "
shark". Jurong Road was cut around 1852-1853, during the time of
John Thomson's tenure as Chief
Surveyor. Many roads within the
Jurong Industrial Estate named in the late 1960s and early 1970s drew inspiration from the nature of
industrial activities in the estate and related aspects of
industrialisation.
For the local
Chinese population, Jurong was formerly called
peng kang, a reference to a
gambier plantation located in the area. After 1906,
rubber plantations dominated the area — Bulim Estate, Lokyang Estate, Chong Keng Estate, Seng Toh Estate and Yunnan Estate, giving rise to many of the local names for areas in Jurong. Jurong was also once called "Goh's Folly", as some Singaporeans doubted the success of Dr
Goh Keng Swee's plan to develop the area.
History
In the early 1900s, Jurong was uncharted territory. In 1929, the first road in Jurong connected it to
Bukit Timah. Jurong remained a sleepy
rural area until 1959, when Singapore became a self-governing
colony.
The government saw
industrialisation as a solution to the country's economic problems and Jurong was picked as a prime area for development. Jurong's
coastal waters were deep, making it suitable for a
port; the land was mostly state-owned; and
landfill was readily available from the area's many
hills. It is also relatively far from
Singapore's Central Business District and
residential areas, and thus it's suitable to locate
heavy industries there.
In 1961, the
Economic and Development Board (EDB) was formed to industrialise Jurong and
earthworks began that same year. In 1962, the then
Finance Minister Dr
Goh Keng Swee, laid the
foundation stone for the National Iron and Steel Mills, the first factory in the new industrial estate. In 1963, 24 factories were established. In the same year, the then
Prime Minister of Singapore,
Lee Kuan Yew, made Jurong the initial constituency on his first visit to constituencies in the Republic. At that time, Jurong was without a citizen's consultative committee. In May
1965,
Jurong Port became operational.
In 1968, the
Jurong Town Corporation was created to manage Jurong's development. By this time, 14.78 square kilometres of industrial land has been prepared, 153 factories were fully functioning and 46 more were being constructed.
With the
Singapore economy constantly expanding, finding space for new industries is an ever-present challenge. Seven
islets off the coast of Jurong were merged to create the 30 square kilometre
Jurong Island, which is to be the base for
oil,
petrochemical and
chemical industries. Construction of Jurong Island began in the early 1990s and is scheduled to be completed in 2010. A number of plants began operating there in the late 1990s. A bridge, the Jurong Island Causeway, links Jurong Island to the mainland. Access to the island is restricted which may improve its security against terrorist attacks.
Jurong is also home to the
Jurong Bird Park, the
Chinese and the
Japanese Gardens, the
Science Centre with its
Omnimax Theatre, three
golf clubs and the
Raffles Marina. Extensive public housing has brought an influx of residents, who are well served by
shopping centres,
sports facilities,
schools, good road connections and the
Mass Rapid Transit system.
Jurong Group Representation Constituency
Members of Parliament
Rail transport
The
Keretapi Tanah Melayu railway from
Malaysia used to have an extension branching out from the
Bukit Timah railway station to Shipyard Road and
Jurong Port via
Teban Gardens. This railway extension was intended for goods transportation as Jurong lacked good roads at the time. It was opened in 1965 amid much fanfare, but failed to generate satisfactory traffic. It was consequently closed in the early 1990s, and has since been partially dismantled.
Plans for future development
On 4 April 2008, the National Development Minister
Mah Bow Tan announced a plan to develop the Jurong into a commercial hub outside the Central Business District (CBD). The new Jurong Lake District will offer a potential development area of 360 hectares, roughly the size of Marina Bay. The Urban Redevelopment Authority said that some 750,000m
2 of land will be set aside at Jurong Gateway, expected to attract billions of dollars in development, for offices, hotels, food and beverage and entertainment uses. However, analysts say that the short 10-15 years time frame may be a little tight, due to the amount of projects in progress and a dampened global economic climate.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Jurong'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://jurong.totallyexplained.com">Jurong Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
