“Sometimes the smell lingers for weeks and months, it actually made me feel nauseous when we first moved in,” said Li, 42. “At times it smells acidic, and sometimes it smells like something is burning.
“We subsequently installed an air conditioner and fan in our living room for ventilation because our windows are always shut to keep the bad air out,” she said.
Residents in coastal estates such as Punggol told This Week in Asia that they had been experiencing smoke and chemical smells from an industrial estate across the Johor Strait for years.
Earlier this month, smoke and an orange flare from a chemical plant at Pasir Gudang in eastern Johor Bahru were visible from different parts of Singapore.
Upon noticing the flare, Punggol resident Emerson Chua shut all of the windows in his house, a response that has become a reflex ever since 2019, when he moved into his flat.
