Tuas

Tuas
Name transcription(s)
• Chinese	大士
• Pinyin	Dàshì
• Hokkien POJ	Tōa-sū
• Malay	Tuas
• Tamil	துவாஸ்
Country	Singapore

Tuas is a planning area located within the West Region of Singapore. It is bounded by the Western Water Catchment to its north, Pioneer to its east and the Straits of Johor to its west. Tuas also shares a maritime boundary with the Western Islands planning area to its east.

The Malaysia-Singapore Second Link that links Singapore and Malaysia is located at Tuas.

Etymology

Tuas is derived from a daytime fishing method uncommon these days. The coastal Malays floated coconut fronds and leafy branches kept close together by the rising tide. A large net was then spread and suspended below. The shade provided drew in the fish. More and more were attracted until, at a given signal, the net was hauled up by the Malay fishermen in the boats. Levering or hauling up is menuas, which became tuas. Tuas also means "to chop in two pieces", "to raise by leverage", and "to support".

History

The Tuas area in the early nineteenth century was referred to by three place names: Tg Kampong, Tg Rawa and Tg Gull — references made in Franklin and Jackson's 1830 map of Singapore.

Tuas used to be swamp land which was later cleared for squatter settlement. It became a fishing village. In the old days, it was not unusual to see about 200 fishing boats in Tuas every morning.

In the 1970s, the residents in Tuas were resettled in public housing estates. Tuas was then developed for industrial use. In the 1980s, land was reclaimed around Tuas for more industrial development. By 1988, about 6.5 km² of land off Tuas were reclaimed. Land reclamation off Tuas is still ongoing; the land area of Tuas will increase from 17.02 km² in 1996 to the projected 20.75 km² by 2010 . Penta-Ocean Construction (五洋建設) of Japan was most heavily involved in the land reclamation.^[1] The peninsular reclaimed in the late 1980s to early 1990s is named Tuas South, while the land currently being reclaimed to the southeast of Tuas Jetty is known as the Tuas South Extension.

Industry

Being far away from the main residential areas and the commercial district of Singapore, Tuas was chosen as a site for industrial development as the adjacent industrial areas in Jurong Industrial Estate were being built. Heavy industries can be found in Tuas, although not as much as on Jurong Island. Two of Singapore's four incinerators are also found in Tuas, namely Tuas Incinerator and Tuas South Incinerator. A world-scale renewable diesel plant, using palm oil as feedstock, which was completed in 2010, is also located in the area. Its capacity will make it the largest plant of its kind (800,000 tons per annum).

Further reclamation into the Tuas South extension is done to house the world largest storage of oil.

Residential areas

Tuas has a number of residential buildings provided at low cost for the people who work there. Some are located at Benoi Sector, which also has an eating place, whilst the others are located at Pioneer Road.

The low rise flats are normally named from Blocks A to H, and are usually 9 to 11 stories high. They are not elegant, being built to meet basic residential requirements; they provide shelter with an electricity and water supply.

Bus routes

All bus routes that go to Tuas are from Boon Lay Bus Interchange and Joo Koon Bus Interchange are operated by SBS Transit. Service 182 will call at Tuas Checkpoint during certain period daily and this service will operate as Service 182M after 2130 daily.

References

1. Humphreys, Neil (2012). Return to a Sexy Island: Notes from a New Singapore. Marshall Cavendish International Asia. p. 182. ISBN 978 9814398 855.

• Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981 210 205 1