How did a casino – okay, integrated resort – end up as a symbol of sorts for Singapore? If residents and tourists are asked to doodle or snap something representative of the country, you can bet the “three-fingered” Marina Bay Sands (MBS) building topped with a banana-shaped roof will be given by quite a number of them as an answer.

But there may be an opportunity to build a cool skyline icon that hits closer to home – literally – than a nice hotel and mall with a naughty casino pit. Analysts have speculated that the Marina South precinct is likely to have public housing, given the Government’s move to inject Housing Board flats into traditionally private estates elsewhere.