Bukit Merah

Bukit Merah
Planning Area and HDB Town
Other transcription(s)
• Chinese	红山
• Pinyin	Hóng Shān
• Hokkien	âng-soaⁿ
• Malay	Bukit Merah
• Tamil	புக்கிட் மேரா
• Cantonese	Hung Saan
From top left to right: HarbourFront, Singapore Improvement Trust flats in Tiong Bahru, Skyline of Redhill, Henderson Waves, Jetty at Labrador Nature Reserve
Bukit Merah Location of Bukit Merah within Singapore
Coordinates: 1°16′54.86″N 103°49′26.11″E / 1.2819056°N 103.8239194°E / 1.2819056; 103.8239194
Country	Singapore
Region	Central Region
CDCs	Central Singapore CDC South West CDC
Town councils	Jalan Besar Town Council Tanjong Pagar Town Council West Coast Town Council
Constituencies	Jalan Besar GRC Radin Mas SMC Tanjong Pagar GRC West Coast GRC
Government
• Mayors	Central Singapore CDC Denise Phua South West CDC Low Yen Ling
• Members of Parliament	Jalan Besar GRC Lily Neo Radin Mas SMC Sam Tan Tanjong Pagar GRC Chia Shi Lu Indranee Rajah Joan Pereira West Coast GRC Lim Hng Kiang
Area
• Total	14.34 km2 (5.54 sq mi)
• Residential	3.12 km2 (1.20 sq mi)
Population (2015)
• Total	155,840
• Density	11,000/km2 (28,000/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Official Bukit Merah resident Colloquial Bukit Meraher Bukit Merahian
Ethnic groups
• Chinese	122,610
• Malays	13,400
• Indians	15,120
• Others	4,710
Postal districts	2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10
Dwelling units	51,885
Projected ultimate	68,000

Central Region

Central Singapore CDC

South West CDC

Jalan Besar GRC

Radin Mas SMC

Tanjong Pagar GRC

West Coast GRC

Official

Colloquial

Bukit Merah (Chinese: 红山, Tamil: புக்கிட் மேரா), also abbreviated as either Bt Merah or BM, is a planning area and residential town situated in the southernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. The planning area borders Tanglin to the north, Queenstown to the west and the Downtown Core, Outram and Singapore River planning areas of the Central Area to the east. Bukit Merah also shares a maritime boundary with the Southern Islands planning area located beyond its southernmost point.

With the earliest records of Bukit Merah's existence in the Malay Annals, the town had a huge role to play in the early maritime trade of the Kingdom of Singapura.

The town's fertile red soil was employed to great effect, when it was a district rich in gambier cultivation during British colonial rule.

Even before the industrialization of Jurong, Bukit Merah already had a small head start in the emerging heavy industry market in Singapore. With the first brickwork factories and mills emerging in the precincts of Henderson Hill and Redhill as early as the 1930s.

The town is also home to the first housing estate in the country, Tiong Bahru, which was developed by the Singapore Improvement Trust in the backdrop of a rapidly growing population in post-war Singapore. The estate later became the basis of what would eventually become the first new town in the Republic, Queenstown.