View overlooking Upper East Coast Road and land earmarked for the Bayshore estate. Development in Bayshore will accelerate in the next two years with the completion of the Thomson-East Coast Line (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
At an opening ceremony for Stage 4 of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) on June 21, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong recounted his days growing up in the Marine Terrace estate. As a teenager, he wished for an MRT station near his family home so he could take the train to Orchard Road to hang out with friends. “It has taken a very long time, but the good things in life are worth waiting for and I am glad this wish has truly, finally materialised,” he said.
This sentiment is undoubtedly echoed by many residents in the eastern areas of Singapore, who have anticipated this stretch of the TEL since it was first announced in 2014 and also endured a year-long delay in its delivery due to the pandemic.
The fourth stage of the TEL spans 10.8km and includes seven stations: Tanjong Rhu, Katong Park, Tanjong Katong, Marine Parade, Marine Terrace, Siglap and Bayshore. An additional station at the upcoming Founder’s Memorial is set to open in 2028. These stations are part of major connectivity improvements in the east aimed at easing crowding on the East-West Line (EWL) and significantly enhancing accessibility.
Stage 4 of the Thomson-East Coast Line opened in June with seven stations, including Marine Terrace (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
Other upcoming improvements include the fifth and final stage of the TEL, which includes two stations: Bedok South and Sungei Bedok. To be completed in 2026, this stage will connect with an expansion of the Downtown Line (DTL) from the existing Expo Station. The DTL will extend to a new station at Xilin and continue to Sungei Bedok, which will serve as an interchange for the TEL and DTL.
At the same time, construction is underway for the new Cross Island MRT Line (CRL), which will run from Jurong Lake District to Aviation Park in Changi and include a Punggol Extension branching from Pasir Ris to north-eastern areas like Punggol and Sengkang. The first phase of the CRL, which extends from Bright Hill to Aviation Park, will add five new stations in the east — Tampines North, Pasir Ris, Pasir Ris East, Loyang and Aviation Park — and is expected to be completed by 2030.
These transport improvements signal several key developments in the URA’s East planning region over the next five years. This area, which includes Bedok, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Paya Lebar, Changi and Changi Bay, is home to over 700,000 residents, according to population data from the Department of Statistics as of June 2023.
As the TEL is being completed, activity in the Bayshore estate — a 60ha plot located on reclaimed land between the East Coast Parkway (ECP) and Upper East Coast Road — is poised to accelerate soon.
While the plot falls under the Bedok planning area and has been set aside for residential use since the URA Master Plan 1998, detailed plans for the new estate were only unveiled last October. The government announced that roughly 10,000 new homes would be built in Bayshore, of which 70% are designated for public housing.
The estate will be served by the Bayshore and Bedok South MRT Stations on the TEL, while a main thoroughfare called Bayshore Drive will be constructed between the two stations. Residential blocks will flank the new road, along with amenities like shops, eateries, medical centres and sports facilities.
As Bayshore will be a car-lite estate, Bayshore Drive will include a 400m-long section dedicated to buses, along with cycling paths and sheltered pavements. Plans also include a new integrated development connecting to a bus interchange and the Bedok South MRT Station.
The first public housing projects in Bayshore are slated for launch in the October Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise. Comprising two projects with 1,440 two-room flexi to four-room flats, the units will feature full-height windows and layouts with structural beams and columns placed at the edges to enable more customisation and flexibility for owners.
For private housing, a Government Land Sale (GLS) site in Bayshore has been moved from the 1H2024 GLS Programme Reserve List and will now be launched for sale in November under the latest Confirmed List. The site, which can yield about 515 units, will be the first private housing sale site in the Bayshore estate.
A site next to Kembangan MRT Station will be redeveloped into a new integrated development including HDB flats, a community club, a healthcare facility and a park (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
In addition to flats in Bayshore, the October BTO exercise will introduce new flats on a redevelopment site in Kembangan, which is also under the Bedok planning area. In January, URA proposed amendments to the 2019 Master Plan to enable the construction of new homes, a neighbourhood park and community and recreational facilities on this plot, which is located next to Kembangan MRT Station. These developments will replace the site’s existing Kampong Kembangan Community Club, basketball court and football field.
The Kembangan BTO project will be the first in the neighbourhood in over 30 years. Offering 340 units of two-room flexi and four-room flats, it is part of an integrated development with a five-storey building that will house a new community club, supermarket, preschool, shops, an outpatient healthcare facility and a kidney dialysis centre.
The Pasir Ris 8 integrated development has reached a milestone with the completion of its retail component, Pasir Ris Mall. The shopping centre opened on July 22 and has over 150 retail and dining outlets spread across four floors.
Pasir Ris 8 is a joint venture between Allgreen Properties and Kerry Properties. The partners were awarded the 409,068 sq ft white site on Pasir Ris Drive 8, next to the Pasir Ris MRT Station, through an HDB tender exercise after submitting a bid of nearly $700 million or $685 psf per plot ratio (psf ppr) in 2019. The project is part of a Pasir Ris town centre refresh by HDB under its Remaking Our Heartland programme.
Positioned as a new community focal point, Pasir Ris 8 has seven residential blocks sitting on top of a podium that includes the retail mall and a car park. The development overlooks a new town plaza and is directly connected to a new integrated transport hub. The hub consists of an air-conditioned bus interchange that will be completed next year and the Pasir Ris MRT Station, which will be an interchange with the CRL in future.
Pasir Ris Mall, the retail component of integrated development Pasir Ris 8, opened in July (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
Residences at Pasir Ris 8 were launched in July 2021. The last unit at the 99-year leasehold condo was sold in May this year: a 1,302 sq ft, three-bedroom unit priced at $2.302 million ($1,767 psf). The condo is slated for completion by 2026.
Amid the rejuvenation happening in Pasir Ris, more residential plots have been activated. The tender for an EC site at Jalan Loyang Besar, off Pasir Ris Drive 3, closed on Aug 1. A consortium comprising Qingjian Realty, China Communications Construction Company and ZACD Group submitted a bid of $557 million ($729 psf ppr), topping three other bidders and setting a new record bid for an EC site. The 305,754 sq ft, 99-year leasehold plot can accommodate 710 units.
Along Pasir Ris Drive 3, two BTO projects opposite Pasir Ris 8 will be launched for sale during the October BTO exercise. The projects will offer 760 units, including two-room-flexi to five-room flats and 3Gen units targeted at multi-generation families.
Within the wider Pasir Ris planning area, the recent launch of the 276-unit Kassia marked the final condo project by Tripartite Developers — a joint venture between Hong Leong Holdings, City Developments and TID — in the Flora Drive-Flora Road enclave. The condo saw 144 units, or about 52%, sold during its July 20-21 launch weekend, with prices ranging between $1,821 and $2,177 psf.
Elsewhere in the Eastern region, new housing developments are emerging in various clusters, with the largest being the Tampines North and Tampines South townships within the Tampines planning area. The first HDB flats in Tampines North, located between Tampines Avenues 9, 10 and 12, were completed in 2019 and several more BTO projects have followed. The 240ha township aims to deliver approximately 21,000 homes, including 4,000 private residential units.
The first GLS site in Tampines North was an executive condominium (EC) plot at Tampines Street 62 awarded to Qingjian Realty and Santarli Construction in 2021 at $422 million or $659 psf ppr. The 618-unit Tenet EC was launched in December 2022, with 72% of units taken up during launch weekend. Based on caveats lodged as of July 30, 610 (98.7%) units have been sold at an average price of $1,383 psf.
Last July, a mixed-use mega site at Tampines Avenue 11 was awarded to a consortium between UOL Group, Singapore Land and CapitaLand Development. The partners submitted a top bid of $1.206 billion ($885 psf ppr) for the 545,516 sq ft site. The development will offer about 1,190 new homes and retail and community amenities. It will directly connect to the future Tampines North MRT Station on the CRL.
Next to Tenet, another EC site (Tampines Street 62 Parcel B) will accommodate an estimated 700 units. Sim Lian Land and Sim Lian Development were awarded the site in October 2023 for $543.28 million or $721 psf ppr.
View of Build-To-Order projects currently under construction in Tampines North and the site of the future Tampines North MRT Station (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
Under the URA Master Plan 2019, some 8,000 homes have been designated for Tampines South, situated off Tampines Avenue 1 and Bedok Reservoir Road. Six BTO projects are currently under construction in Tampines South, with more than 5,000 flats expected to be completed in the next three years.
On June 27, a GLS tender was launched for a mixed-use site at Tampines Street 94. The 252,952 sq ft site is close to the Tampines West MRT Station (Downtown Line) and can yield an estimated 585 residences and a commercial gross floor area (GFA) of about 113,021 sq ft. The tender will close on Sept 19.
Nearby, an EC site along Tampines Street 95 is expected to launch for tender this month. Measuring 242,188 sq ft, the site can yield around 560 units.
While the next few years will see more housing and transport links emerging in the east, major developments across three key areas are expected to propel the region’s growth over the longer term.
In Changi, work on Changi Airport’s Terminal 5 (T5) resumed in 2022 following a two-year pause caused by the pandemic. Construction on T5 will start next year and once operations start around the mid-2030s, the terminal is estimated to handle roughly 50 million passengers annually.
Further transport enhancements will be completed with T5, including extending the TEL from Sungei Bedok station to Changi Airport. In addition, the current branch of the EWL that runs from Tanah Merah to Changi Airport will be converted to the TEL.
T5 is located in Changi East, a 1,080ha greenfield site with a new industrial zone for aviation-related sectors and an urban district for offices, hotels and public spaces.
Artist’s impression of Changi Airport Terminal 5. Construction of the terminal will start next year, propelling development in the Changi East area (Picture: Changi Airport Group)
In Paya Lebar, upcoming projects will focus on the area surrounding the Paya Lebar Air Base, which will be relocated starting in the 2030s. This move will free up over 800ha of land. According to URA, the site and its surrounding industrial areas are roughly five times the size of Toa Payoh town and will be redeveloped for new residential, commercial and recreational purposes.
An estimated 150,000 new homes could be built on the site. The air base relocation may also lead to the removal of current building height restrictions, which could facilitate redevelopment in areas such as Hougang, Marine Parade, and Punggol.
Meanwhile, studies are being done to assess the feasibility of “Long Island”, a proposed land reclamation project off East Coast Park. First conceptualised over 30 years ago, the idea was revisited in 2019 as a potential solution to protect the East Coast area against rising sea levels due to climate change.
Last November, the government announced that technical studies on Long Island would start this year, alongside public consultations on the project. Around 800ha across three tracts of land could be reclaimed, representing an area twice the size of Marina Bay.
In addition to providing land for new homes and amenities, Long Island may feature a new freshwater reservoir and 20km of waterfront parks. The area’s development is expected to continue over the next few decades.