Jurong Island
Jurong Island
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Jurong Island

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Jurong Island

Jurong Island is located to the southwest of the main island of Singapore. It was formed from the amalgamation of several offshore islands, chiefly the seven main islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek Kechil (also called Terumbu Pesek), Pulau Sakra (which was a previous merger of Pulau Sakra and Pulau Bakau), and Pulau Seraya, but also Pulau Meskol, Pulau Mesemut Laut, Pulau Mesemut Darat and Anak Pulau. This was done through Singapore's land reclamation efforts. Land reclamation on Jurong Island was completed on 25 September 2009, 20 years earlier than scheduled. Pulau Buaya was joined to Jurong Island via reclamation in 2010. Jurong Island forms a land area of about 32 km2 (12 sq mi) from an initial area of less than 10 km2 (4 sq mi).

The island was previously a stop on a maritime trade route. Jurong Island used to be a maze of island hideouts frequented by raiding pirates. Later in the early 19th century, entrepreneurs trading gambier altered the area for large scale settlement. In 1848 a British surveyor, John Turnbull Thomson, mentioned there were numerous Chinese and Malay villages in Jurong.

The outlying islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau and Pulau Seraya hosted small fishing villages up to the 1960s. The villagers lived in Malay-style wooden stilt houses on the palm-fringed islands. Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, three big oil companies planned to house their facilities on Pulau Ayer Chawan for Esso, Pulau Merlimau for Singapore Refinery Company and Pulau Pesek for Mobil Oil.

The Government of Singapore then took the opportunity to grow the petrochemical industry to improve economic growth. It proved a success when the petroleum industry took off in the 1970s.

By the 1980s, after a decade of rapid industrialisation, industrial land was growing scarce on Singapore mainland. The idea of joining the southern islands off Jurong to form one colossal island to create more industrial land was therefore conceived.

In 1991, JTC Corporation (formerly Jurong Town Corporation) was appointed the agent of the Jurong Island project. JTC planned and coordinated with various government agencies in providing the necessary infrastructure and services to the island.

Physical land reclamation began in 1995, and Jurong Island was officially opened on 14 October 2000 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. From the 9.91 km2 land area of the original seven islets, as of completion of the land reclamation on 25 September 2009, Jurong Island currently has a total land area of 30 km2. Penta-Ocean Construction was the major contractor and reclamation was completed 20 years ahead of schedule.

Today, Jurong Island is home to many companies such as Arkema, Arlanxeo, Afton Chemical, Air Liquide, Asahi Kasei, BASF, Celanese, Evonik, ExxonMobil, Infineum, DuPont, Mitsui Chemicals, Chevron Oronite, Linde, Mitsubishi Chemicals, SLNG, Shell, Singapore Petroleum Company Singapore Refining Company, Stepan Company, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore, The Polyolefin Company, Chevron Phillips, Mitsui Elastomer, Baker Hughes and Sumitomo Chemical.

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