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Tebrau
Waterworks / Johor Bahru
Visit date
/ 2016 / 2020
/ 2022
Year of build
/ 1953
Current status
/ abandoned / demolished |
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| Posted
: 11/9/2022 |
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| Plans
to build a new waterworks in Tebrau, Johor, began in 1951.
The new plant was urgently needed to supply water to Singapore.
By 1953, all work had been completed and the facility was
slated to produce on average 50 million gallons of water a
day.
The
entire built operation was of an impressive scale, especially
for its time. Not only was there the main working production
infrastructure, but also an entire residential area for
live on site Public Utilites Board workers and managers,
numbering over 70 personnel. On site accommodation consisted
of tweleve individual bungalows for managers, and eight,
3 and 4 storey high accommodation blocks for staff and their
families. Other amenities included a club house cinema and
shop.
Since 2014, the location has sat partially demolished and
abandoned. Most of the site is now significantly overgrown
with thick lalang making access to most parts of the area
challenging, if not dangerous to explore.
Not outlined here is the complicated Malaysia, Singapore
political undercurrent of what the Tebrau waterworks and
the other Johor based facilities like it, represents.
The old Tebrau facility might be physically fading from
the landscape, but the political aspect of its very being
will undoubtedly rumble on for years to come between both
nations. Please see the link, "Singapore and Malaysia:
The Water Issue", on the right side of this page for
more information on this subject.
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| (May
2016) This was the waterworks main pump house, it sits half
demolished with all its main equipment removed. The exterior
of the building featured a red facing brick facade, combined
with large arrays of green stained glass windows. |
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| (2016)
A design feature inside the main pump hall was a broad green
mosaic tiled band that ran along the bottom of the interior
wall. |
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| (2016)
A building positioned next to sungei Tebrau. (Note 2nd last
photo below of the same building in 2022) |
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| (2016)
Some of the surviving staff accomadation blocks on site. |
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| (2020)
An interesting 1986 dated Piping and Instrumentation diagram.
The diagram shows the layout of the plants piping, pumps and
engine systems. Going by the diagram, the oldest piece of
equipment in use at the time seemed to have been a 1954 made
Allis Chalmers pump. |
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| (2022
Sept) Sungei Tebrau. |
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| (2022
Sept) Waterworks sluice gate over sungei Tebrau. This old
remenant has become a popular place to fish off. |
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Staff from the Public Utilities Board of Singapore manned
the Tebrau waterworks.
There were 2 other PUB controlled facilities in Johor, they
were located at Gunung Pulai and Skudai.
After the so called 'Tebrau and Skudai Rivers Water Agreement
(1961)' expired in 2011, all operations at these 3 facilities
were handed back to Malaysia. |
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