For
over a century, the Singapore River was Singapore’s trading and commercial lifeline.
The sheltered harbour at the mouth of the river had facilitate entrepot trade,
bring ships and immigrants to the island’s shores. By 1970s, the river had become
one large dumping ground for the street hawkers and squatter settlements that
had settled around its shores. There are hardly any marine lives because the
river was so clogged up with rubbish. Thus, in 1977, the government embarked
on the mammoth task of cleaning up the river. Ten years later, marine life started
to thrive in this river. With the river cleaned up, the next stage is to redevelop
the area around the river. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) undertook
the planning of the Singapore River.
URA
improved the connectivity and accessibility of the place and nodal points such
as plazas and outdoor areas were implemented. Old shophouses and warehouses
along the river have been conserved. These form the image of Singapore in the
past. There are also government buildings that hint our colonial heritage. Modern
structures thrust boldly upwards. One can see Singapore as a tropical sunny
island, the gateway to the Orient and an important center for international
commerce. 
URA
has also set aside spaces in the Robertson Quay for hotels and residential buildings,
The Clarke Quay as a Commercial and entertainment zone. The Boat Quay is reserved
for civil and commercial uses. In planing these zones, the URA took into consideration
a lot of factors and these factors may affect the way the river would be and
the type of activities near it.
As we can still see, the singapore river today is still flourishing with life and there are many activities that are still held on the Singapore River. Activities like the Annual Dragon Boat Race and the Adopt -a -duck race is still held on the Singapore River. And along the Singapore River, there are many different type of activites that takes place.
To know more about the activities on the Sinagpore River please go to the following sites:
http://www.moon.com/introductions/singapore/singapore_river.html