Residents to be evacuated for on-site disposal of World War II bomb in Singapore
Roads to be closed around Bukit Panjang and Upper Bukit Timah as police, SAF facilitate disposal exercise at condo construction site
SINGAPORE — Residents in certain parts of the Bukit Panjang and Upper Bukit Timah estates will be required to evacuate their homes on Tuesday (26 September) due to a controlled detonation of a 100kg World War II aerial bomb.
Residents of The Linear, Hazel Park and Bukit 828 condominiums, the Hazel Park Terrace houses, HDB homes in Block 154 Gangsa Road, as well as workers in shophouses 778 to 822 on Upper Bukit Timah Road, will need to temporarily vacate their premises during the disposal operation.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team will conduct this detonation between 8am and 7pm.
Nearby Greenridge Secondary School students and teachers will switch to home-based learning during this period, said the police in a statement on Sunday.
The bomb was discovered last Wednesday at around noon, during excavation works at a construction site for The Myst condominium along Upper Bukit Timah Road.
The authorities were notified, and the SAF EOD team has determined that it is "unsafe to move" the war relic, so it will be disposed of on-site.
Security measures and road closures for safe disposal of WWII aerial bomb
A 200-metre safety cordon will be established around the bomb, and roads in the vicinity will be closed starting at 11am on Tuesday.
The police said, "The public will be alerted when roads are re-opened and it is safe to resume normal activities in the area."
The Bukit Panjang Flyover between Woodlands Road and Petir Road, as well as the stretch of Upper Bukit Timah Road between Petir Road and Cashew Road, will also be closed to traffic from 11am to 7pm to facilitate the bomb disposal.
Only authorised vehicles from the police and SAF will have access to the closed roads. Traffic police officers will be stationed along affected routes to assist and redirect motorists. Parking restrictions will be strictly enforced, and vehicles causing obstruction may be towed away. In addition, drone activities will not be permitted in the area during the operation.
The authorities also anticipate loud noises during the controlled disposal of the war relic and advise the public not to be alarmed and to avoid the area.
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Vivian Balakrishnan addresses residents' concerns
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who is also Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, expressed his gratitude to residents for attending briefings on the detonation exercise.
He mentioned in a Facebook post on Sunday that a temporary holding area for affected residents would be set up at Senja-Cashew Community Club in Bukit Panjang.
Dr Balakrishnan assured the public that they would be informed about the operation's progress and when residents could return home. He also urged residents not to be alarmed and to cooperate with instructions provided by the police.
In a similar incident in April 2021, a construction worker discovered a suspected war relic outside a temple construction site in Geylang, leading to the evacuation of over 100 people from nearby shophouses.
In 2019, an unexploded World War II aerial bomb was discovered near the former site of the Zouk nightclub and had been successfully disposed of on-site.
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