District 04 - Habourfront, Mount Faber, Telok Blangah, WTC

Located by the calm, soothing waters of theSingapore Straits is District 04 which encompasses Keppel, Mount Faber, Sentosaand Telok Blangah. An international business port bustling with tourism andtrade, District 04 is a hub where people of all nationalities and various andwalks of life gather.

HarbourFront

Harbourfront is a business and lifestyle hubsituated within the Bukit Merah Planning Area. It is also the gateway toSentosa Island. Prominent buildings in Harbourfront include HarbourFront Centre,Singapore Cruise Centre, St. James Power Station and VivoCity. Owned byMapleTree Investments, it is a vibrant place of work and play.

HarbourFrontCentre (WTC)

Previously named World Trade Centre, HarbourFrontCentre is known by its current name since 2003 when the mall was renovated. Itis a shopping complex located at Maritime Square, Telok Blangah, Bukit MerahPlanning Area. It is part of the development called HarbourFront which isconnected to Vivocity, a new and massive mall. HarbourFront Centre is connectedto the HarbourFront MRT Station. The Singapore Cruise Centre is located withinthe building. Across Telok Blangah Road is the HarbourFront Bus Interchange.Within HarbourFront Centre is a ferry terminal that provides ferry services toBatam and other ports in Indonesia.

SingaporeCruise Centre

A cruise terminal built in 1991 by the then Portof Singapore Authority and again refurbished in 1998, the Singapore CruiseCentre comprises of two terminals, the International Passenger Terminal (IPT) andthe Regional Ferry Terminal (RFT). On 1st April 2003, the Singapore CruiseCentre Pte Ltd took over the management of the centre when the Port SingaporeAuthority Corporation dispossessed its non-core businesses. Every year thecentre handles over 8 million cruise and ferry passengers, of which 950,000 arecruise passengers.

VivoCity

Launched in December 2006, VivoCity is the largestshopping mall in Singapore. The word VivoCity is derived from the word“vivacity”, to describe the experience of “a place bubbling with energy andflowing with vitality”. During its first week of operation, the mall receivedalmost one million visitors. The iconic avant-garde architecture was designedby world-renowned Japanese architect Toyo Ito. One of the main features of thedesign is alfresco dining by the 300 metre long promenade. The building alsofeatures a large rooftop amphitheatre. Key areas such as the Sky Park,Promenade and the water features at the entrance are popular areas where peoplegather to enjoy the sights and watch children play. VivoCity boasts one of thelargest cinema multiplex in town, with 15 screens and 2,293 seats. It is alsohas one of the biggest cinema screens in Asia. VivoMart, located within theshopping mall, sells gourmet food brought in from around the world, includingUS, UK, Japan and Australia. The terminal of the Sentosa Express monoraillocated within the building was officially opened on the 15th of January 2007and is known as the Sentosa Monorail Station.

St JamesPower Station

A bustling nightlife scene with 9 nightclubs andlive entertainment destinations comparable to Ministry of Sound at Clarke Quayand Zouk, St James Power Station is the place to be for a fun-filled night ofmerrymaking with friends. Occupying the premises of Singapore’s firstcoal-fired power station built in 1927, the building underwent a huge $43million dollar makeover for two years before opening in 2006. This place iswhere the party begins and never stops until the break of dawn.

Mount Faber

Standing at 106 metres and overlooking theSingapore Central Business District is Mount Faber, a famous touristattraction. It is situated near the Bukit Merah planning area, in TelokBlangah. The hill is accessible by road and footpaths leading up the hill. One canalight from the cable car system that connects Harbourfront and Sentosa then goup Mount Faber via the tower on the slope. Formerly known as Telok BlangahHill, it was renamed after Captain Charles Edward Faber, Governor Butterworth’sbrother-in-law who arrived in Singapore in September 1844. Mount Faber is oneof the higher hills in Singapore, slightly lower than Bukit Timah Hill (164m)and Bukit Gombak (133m). It is separated from the adjacent slightly lower TelokBlangah Hill by Henderson Road.

TelokBlangah

The word Telok Blangah in Malay stands for“cooking pot bay”. Blanga is a cooking pot used by southern Indians. The TelokBlangah district got its name because of the cooking pot shape of the bay. Itis a district in the Bukit Merah Planning Area behind Keppel Harbour. The TelokBlangah Hill Park was a gathering place for trading communities back in theearly nineteenth century. An elegant colonial bungalow, the Alkaff Mansion usedto be a place where many galas for the rich and famous were held. The TerraceGarden of Telok Blangah, with its rich foliage and semi-circular terraces atthe top of the park, is a favourite spot for wedding couples. For those whoseaim is to get fit, there are often group exercises such as Tai Qi and joggingat the park with the rest of the residents from the neighbourhood. Picnics area common sight at Telok Blangah Hill Park, as the place is equipped with picnictables under the shade of Eugenia, Alstonia and Rain trees.

KeppelHarbour

Keppel Harbour is a stretch of water between theSingapore mainland and the southern islands of Pulau Brani and Sentosa. Itsdeep waters made it an ideal place for British colonists to establish a FarEast maritime colony. It then set the stage for the formation of Singapore tobe a successful independent state. Luxury waterfront homes are currently indevelopment. Designed by master architect Daniel Libeskind, Reflections, orKeppel Bay phase two, was launched in early 2007 by the Keppel group, one ofSingapore’s largest conglomerate. To link Keppel Island to the mainland, a 250metre cable-stayed bridge was completed by the first quarter of 2007.

Transportation

For easy accessibility to other parts ofSingapore, the HarbourFront MRT Station is right on the North-East Line as wellas the Harbour Front Bus Interchange.