The Western Islands is a

planning area Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the capaci ...

located within the West Region of Singapore. It comprises a collection of islands located in the south-western waters of Singapore, namely

Jurong Island Jurong Island is an island located to the southwest of the main island of Singapore. It was formed from the amalgamation of seven offshore islands, the islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek ...

, Pulau Bukom, and Sudong Islands. The Western Islands originally comprised 27 islands, once home to the native Malay islanders in the past. In the 1990s, the government decided to reclaim land to form one major island, called

. It was subsequently formed from the amalgamation of several offshore

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s, chiefly the seven main islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek Besar, Pulau Pesek Kechil, Pulau Sakra, Pulau Soraya, Pulau Hantu Besar, and Pulau Hantu Kechil. The planning area is located on the

Singapore Straits The Singapore Strait is a , strait between the Strait of Malacca in the west and the South China Sea in the east. Singapore is on the north of the channel, and the Indonesian Riau Islands are on the south. The two countries share a maritime ...

, with Tuas situated to its west, as well as Pioneer,

Boon Lay Boon Lay (, ) is a neighbourhood located in the town of Jurong West in the West Region, Singapore, West Region of Singapore. Its borders very roughly correspond to the URA subzone of Boon Lay Place, situated within the Jurong West Planning Area. ...

Jurong East Jurong East is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential town situated in the West Region, Singapore, West Region of Singapore. It borders Jurong West and Boon Lay to the west, Clementi, Singapore, Cl ...

and Queenstown to its north. Western Islands planning area also shares a maritime boundary with the Southern Islands to its east. It has three subzones,

and

Bukom Bukom is a village and suburb of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Bukom has produced a number of successful Boxing, boxers. These include Azumah Nelson, Bukom Banku, Ike Quartey and Kwame Asante, as well as welterweight Joshua Clottey, who won the ...

, Semakau and

Sudong Sudong County is a county in South Hamgyŏng province, North Korea. It was formed from part of Kowŏn County in December 1990. Sudong is the site of a major coal seam first discovered in 1918. The P'yŏngra Line of the Korean State Railway pass ...

Location

Although called 'Western Islands', the islands are not actually located on the west of the main island of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. They are in fact located south-west of the main island. The islands are also relatively near to the Southern Islands.

Jurong Island

Jurong Island is the biggest and most important

among the Western Islands. It serves as the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

and

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

hub of the city-state, and it houses the third largest refining centre in the world. Jurong Island is home to over 94 petroleum, petrochemical, specialty chemical and supporting companies with more than S$26 billion in fixed assets investment on Jurong Island. Multinational companies such as

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

and

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

have established a strong presence on Jurong Island. Jurong Island is linked to the main island by a 2.3 km causeway known as the Jurong Island Highway, opened in March 1999. Access to the island is restricted to persons who have a Jurong Island Security Pass. Other restrictions include that one must declare any photographic equipment that they are bringing to the

References

Places in Singapore Western Islands Planning Area {{Singapore-geo-stub