Development plans for upcoming Kampong Bugis precinct redrawn

The authorities have redrawn development plans for Kampong Bugis, where an estimated 4,000 waterfront homes will be built.

- Ng Keng Gene

The precinct is among several upcoming neighbourhoods along the Kallang River that are being showcased at the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Draft Master Plan 2025 exhibition, which runs until Nov 29 at The URA Centre.

In total, land set aside for housing along the river is expected to yield thousands of new homes in areas such as Kallang Distripark, Kallang Industrial Estate and Tanjong Rhu.

These homes will build on recent efforts to have more Singaporeans live closer to the city centre, and also renew older Housing Board estates such as Geylang Bahru and North Bridge Road, which date back to the 1970s.

The adjusted plans for Kampong Bugis are notable as an 8.2ha portion of the 17ha site was previously put on sale in 2019, but later removed from the list of Government Land Sales sites in 2022 due to delays in soil treatment works at the site.

The 8.2ha site that was up for sale contained four plots that were zoned as white sites, or sites meant for mixed-use developments. But based on URA's 2025 draft masterplan, only two of these four plots remain. The other two have had their boundaries redrawn and been rezoned, with one split into two residential plots with a new road that will divide them, and the other now meant primarily for homes, with commercial uses on its first storey.

When URA launched the site for sale in 2019, its intention was for a master developer to purchase, masterplan and develop the four plots, which the agency said could hold up to 4,000 private homes and an additional 50,000 sq m of space for ancillary uses such as retail. This was to be completed over 11 to 13 years.

How these homes and complementary uses would be distributed across the four plots was for the developer to propose—an approach that could achieve better integration between Kampong Bugis' developments, compared with if individual developers were to develop each of the four plots.