Pulau Busing

Pulau Busing
Name transcription(s)
• Chinese	布星岛
• Pinyin	bùxīng dǎo
• Malay	Pulau Busing
Country	Singapore

Pulau Busing is an island located off the southwestern coast of Singapore, north of Pulau Hantu and west of Pulau Bukom. The island is owned by the JTC Corporation and is leased to Tankstore Ltd, a petroleum storage company. The land area of 4.4 hectares before reclamation. has seen major land reclamation to its southern shores. Heavily industrialised, the island is home to oil and chemical storage facilities, at least one marine offshore terminal, and a fuel oil refinery. Together with Jurong Island and neighouring offshore islands, the island is part of the integrated storage and trading hub that was developed by Jurong Town Corporation. Pulau Busing is an important feeding and roosting ground for migratory shore birds. It appears as Po Busing in Franklin & Jackson's 1828 Plan of Singapore. 'Pulau' is Malay for island or an isolated piece of rising ground in a sea, and 'busing' comes perhaps from the Malay terms 'busung pasir' or 'busong pasir', which means a mound of sand or a dune, and pusing which means a turning point. Pulau Busing is strategically located next to the shipping channel and is naturally endowed with a deep waterfront harbour of deeper than 16 metres. Before reclamation, Pulau Busing had a land area of 4.4 hectares. Up to the 1980s, it was still fringed by coral reefs on its northern and southern shores.

'Pulau' is Malay for island or an isolated piece of rising ground in a sea. 'Busing' could come from the Malay terms 'busung pasir' or 'busong pasir', which means a mound of sand or a dune, and to pusing which means a turning point.