Dakota Crescent

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Dakota Crescent is one of Singapore’s oldest housing estates built by Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), the government development authority, in 1958.^[1]

Only 15 original blocks, all of which are even numbered, remain. These low-rise flats are located at Old Airport Road. Many of the residents who formerly resided in the old estate of Dakota Crescent were once victims, or relatives or descendants of such persons, of several fire calamities which destroyed the numerous kampongs (villages) all across Singapore at that time, such as mainly from the so-called "Friday The 13th Fire" at Kampong Tiong Bahru on 13 February 1959 and the big fire at Kampong Koo Chye on 5 April 1958 (present-day Lorong 3 Geylang) in Kallang.^[2][3][4]

The estate used to be part of a larger SIT estate called Kallang Airport Estate. The even numbered side used to stretch to the other end of Dakota Crescent, while even more odd numbered blocks were located on the other side of Old Airport Road. All but two of the odd numbered blocks and HDB blocks 93-99, have since been demolished. On the even numbered side, blocks 2-6 and 10-32 still exist while blocks 8 and 34-72 were demolished. Blocks 8 and 58-66 were the first to be demolished, demolished between 30 and 40 years ago. Blocks 68, 70 and 72 were HDB blocks completed later and were selected for the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme in 1999 and demolished in 2005. Residents of these affected blocks moved to the HDB-built replacement flats, which were located at the nearby Pine Green (these comprise Blocks 39, 43, 45, 47 and 49 at Jalan Tiga) in 2004. In 2014, Dakota Crescent was earmarked for further future redevelopment under Mountbatten's estate-renewal plans and all remaining residents relocated and moved out by the end of 2016.^[5]

The area of what is now Dakota Crescent was the easternmost boundary of the former Kallang Airport.^[6] The name "Dakota Crescent" was derived from the Douglas DC-3 "Dakota" aircraft that used to land frequently at the Kallang Airport when it was still operational. Other locations that bear the name "Dakota" include the roads Dakota Crescent and Dakota Close, as well as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station Dakota.