Research on Pulau Ubin in Singapore

HH2001 capital of Singapore The Making of A Cosmopolitan City- assure investigate Paper Ong Wei Xiu Janine U1230453D foundation The purpose of this essay is to find out how Pulau Ubin vie a substantial fiber in the development of Singapore since the latish 1800s until today. I shall begin by giving a brief insertion of Pulau Ubin and go on to elaborate virtually how the island played a significant role in helping Singapores development in assorted aspects. This topic shall be investigated according to 2 main categories granite exploit and escapade island.I will indeed conclude the essay by commenting about whether Pulau Ubin will continue to play a significant role in Singapores development in the near future. Brief Introduction On Pulau Ubin Shaped like a boomerang, Pulau Ubin is the second largest offshore island of Singapore. measure a distance of about 7 kilometres across and about 2 kilometres at its breadth with area of around 10 square kilometres, the island lies towards the north eastboundward of the city-state in the passing of Johor.It is a stone island mainly composed of fervent rocks of granite that are believed to be more than 200 million geezerhood old. Since the creation of Singapore by the British, the island has been known for its vast re stock of granite. The initiative dickens swinginghouses of the country were built with granite from Pulau Ubin. Subsequently, granite was fashioned for various purposes throughout the city-states history, including the construct of the iconic HDB flats on mainland Singapore.The exposure to sea, abandoned quarry lakes and secondary forests fool Pulau Ubin a natural choice for nurture. The trend of adventure grooming on the island took flight when the Outward Bound School set up its first site on the island while answering the governments call for the creation of a crushed society that could withstand the rigours of fulminant nationhood in 1967. Other adventure campsites and facilities were later developed around the island to supply to the needs of outdoor adventure enthusiasts. Granite QuarryingAfter the British founded Singapore, vast bills of granite were found on Pulau Ubin. Works began in 1848 to extract the granite for figing Singapores first lighthouse located in Pedra Branca, a small island 56 kilometres to the east of mainland Singapore. Captain mob Horsburgh, a hydrographer who surveyed and chartered se out-of-doors and large bodies of water, realised that as Pedra Branca was a small rocky island that was not easily recognizable from a distance and it do the island a hazard for ships passing by.Hence, John Turnbull Thomson, a British civil engineer, built the Horsburgh Lighthouse (named after Captain James Horsburgh) in 1847 using bricks and mortar. However, it was not strong enough and could not last. Thomson then turned his eyes onto the granite stones of Pulau Ubin and had it fashioned in 1848 by stonebreakers and cutters to be use for the cons truction of the lighthouse. This helped Singapore to to a fault claim ownership of the island that was often challenge for by the meet region.Subsequently, a second lighthouse located in Pulau Satumu, the Raffles Lighthouse, was also built using granite from Pulau Ubin to retard the southernmost terminus of Singapores territory. It proved to be of huge importance as it served as a safety marker for one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes in the narrowest section of the Singapore Strait. A federal agency from these two lighthouses that helped to mark out significant territorial points of Singapore, the granite from Pulau Ubin was also used for the construction of the causeway between Singapore and Malaysia over a pan of 5 long time from 1919. With more quarrying works to be done because of the large amount of granite needed by the British to build infrastructure on mainland Singapore, world started to rise on Pulau Ubin. Soon, the island became a major supplier of granite for th e building industry. The local anaesthetic Malays also tapped onto the resources and started selling polished granite slabs, stone tombs and granite grinders. The British constantly apothegm the need for an in-depth study about the vast amounts of granite that could be extracted for construction and roadworks.They lastly came up with a report on the availability of granite on Singapore and the surrounding islands in 1950 to find out exactly where and how much granite could be extracted on the various come outs of Singapore (of which, more than twice the number of areas set were from Pulau Ubin). There are a total of five granite quarries on Pulau Ubin. disrespect having quarries like Aik Hwa Granite Quarry which produced about 160 to 180 tonnes of granite per month and subscribe to up to 40 percent of what was needed for the construction works in Singapore, there was a shortage in granite supply in the archaeozoic 1990s.This caused the granite suppliers to think of ways to i ncrease their productivity. Resources Development Corportation (RDC), one of the quarries on Pulau Ubin, pull down looked into installing a new crusher be aftert. Eventually, all the quarries on Pulau Ubin and mainland Singapore was made to close down by the Public Works Department (PWD) in order to protect the natural environment as good as to free up the land for better economic use. Adventure IslandIn 1967, Dr Goh Keng Swee, the then- pastor for defensive structure and Interior asked for the setting up of an Outward Bound School (OBS) to build a rugged society in light of the challenges faced by a unfledged nation that was just denied of creation a part of a large domestic market. By putting participants through educations on land and at sea, OBS hoped to train and help them to realize the value in themselves and others, as well as discover their strengths in order to be free from fear and self-doubt.The rugged nature of the wild terrains on Pulau Ubin was a natural choic e for it to become an optimal site for OBS. Having the capacity to train 23,000 people (comprising children, youths and adults) a year and having been pivotal in the training of young Singaporeans to meet the changing needs of society, OBS has made an impact in the nation of Singapore through running its range of programmes on its two Pulau Ubin campsites.Apart from bringing out the best in the people of Singapore, the experience of training in OBS was also vital in training budding leadership of the country. Singapores current Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong (the son of the then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew), had much to testify for when he spoke of his fond memories of how he blended in with everyone else, complete that he could push himself to the limit, and do things he never thought he could do during an OBS course back in 1967.He went on to praise the OBS for being one of the best Outward Bound centres in the world. All these could not have been possible, if not for the initia l efforts of volunteers who passionately set up the logistics and ran the courses ceaselessly on Pulau Ubin. The Ministry of Education (MOE) also realized how Pulau Ubin was an ideal location to place two major campsites for promoting a rugged lifestyle in training student cadets from National Cadet corps (NCC) and National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC).Dr Tay Eng Soon, the Senior Minister of State (Education) then, announced the plans to build these two sites back in 1990, citing that the reason for doing so was to get children out of their flats and come closer into contact with nature, as Singapore is now highly urbanised. The government had plans of developing Pulau Ubin as an Adventure Island since 1990. The island was suitable in supporting an array of outdoor activities, residential amenities and adventure facilities while putting disturbance to the natural environment to the minimum.Singaporeans have also demonstrated an interest towards a life of adventure on the island of Pu lau Ubin, creating a kind of top of mind awareness about the island being the iconic site for adventure-enthusiasts currently and in the future. Conclusion Having put down its shape as one of the major granite suppliers for Singapore since the 1990s, Pulau Ubin has transformed its image from being an island that churns out tonnes of granite for construction on the mainland to being an ideal sanctuary away from the bustling city with a holistic variety of adventure activities time lag to engage the city dwellers of all ages.Whether it is the experience of being a part of the nation-building process during the heydays of granite quarrying or the memories forged by having attended various camps and outdoor activities conducted on the island, Pulau Ubin seems to have played a significant role in the development and progress of Singapore as a nation, as well as in the hearts and minds of Singaporeans in general. However, the future of Pulau Ubin whitethorn not be anything like its past .In the governments concept plan presented in the parliament, there seems to be plans of linking Pulau Ubin to the mainland through MRT line extensions as well as developing the island in light of the situation of land scarceness on mainland Singapore. Though these were just some of the hints gathered from a obtain by the presidencys Concept Plan back in the 1990s, one cannot deny that Pulau Ubin has always maintained an important status in the minds of the states planners, and will probably always be, in the years to come. Reference The Causeway, A Great Engineering Work Completed.. The Straits clock, June 27, 1924. Alexander, FES. root word on the availability of granite on Singapore and the surrounding islands. Singapore Government Publications Bureau, 1950. Chua, Ee Kiam. Pulau Ubin Ours to Treasure. Singapore Simply Green, 2000. Boonzaier, Jonathan. Raffles remains beacon of light in Singapore Strait. Trade Winds, April 13, 2013. Yum, Shoen Liang. Govt should study furth er its plan for Ubin and Tekong. The Straits generation, The sunshine Times edition, sec.Forum, March 02, 1991. Granite quarry owners seek to resume blasting. The disdain Times, June 18, 1990. Granite suppliers step up production to meet demand.. The Business Times, , sec. Business Times Singapore, September 13, 1990. Keep Ubin as it is, says Chok Tong after touring Adventure Island. The Straits Times, The Sunday Times edition, October 09, 1990. Long-term development plans for Tekong and Ubin revealed. The Straits Times, The Sunday Times edition, sec. Home, February 25, 1991. Of endurance and Character.Outward Bound Singapore The first 40 years. Singapore Peoples Association, 2007. Two whopping campsites to promote the rugged life on the cards. The Straits Times, The Sunday Times edition, sec. Home, June 01, 1990. Waller, Edmund. Landscape planning in Singapore. Singapore Singapore University Press, 2001. http//books. google. com. sg/books? id=L5kLBHwUwfECpg=PA48lpg=PA48dq =hdb quarrysource=blots=EEUo_IR_5hsig=twpNwCT89Xnc30TpJrtKsk3zxxIhl=ensa=Xei=d8dqUbvvMu-ViQeC8oD4DA