Land Reclamation in Singapore

Reasons for Land Reclamation

Large-scale land reclamation has been undertaken in different parts of Singapore since the 1960s. This is necessary because of

• the small size of the country (total area being about 581.5km square prior to 1960) and
• the rising demand for more land as the population increases.

More land has been made available for

• building more homes in private and public housing estates and recreational facilities for the growing population, and
• expanding commercial and industrial activities and transport needs, the latest of which include roads, expressways, the Mass Rapid Transit System, the port and airport facilities.

By 1990, the total land area of Singapore was 633km square. This was an increase of 51.5km square, which made up 8.9% the total land area. With continuing land reclamation, land area in Singapore will increase by about another 100km square by the year 2030. There are, however, constraints as to how much more land the country can reclaim. Two limiting factors have to be considered.

• Land reclamation works in the past used to be carried out from depths of 5-10m. Today, reclamation works have to venture into deeper waters of 15m or so and this will incur much higher costs.
• It is also not so viable to pursue pushing reclamation further offshore because there is the competing need to maintain the sealanes and provide new and larger ports for the bigger ships to anchor in Singapore's limited sea space.

Land Reclamation Agencies

Other than the land reclamation of the offshore islands of Pulau Bukum, Pulau Bukum Kechil, Pulau Ular and Pulau Ayer Chawan by two private oil companies, land reclamation is undertaken by three public agencies in Singapore. They are

• Housing and Development Board (HDB)
• Jurong Town Corporation (JTC)
• PSA Corporation

Among some of the future large-scale reclamation works are

• a long island off the east coast and the length of which will stretch from near Marina East to Changi for waterfront housing and recreational development and roads,
• Pulau Tekong and Pulau Ubin for housing and some industrial development when Singapores population exceeds four million and
• Pulau Serangoon and Punggol Point which will be reclaimed for quality housing.

Land reclamation has modified the coastline of Singapore, extending it seawards, especially on the eastern, north-eastern and western parts of the island, and changing it quite beyong recognition. Large coastal areas have also been starightened by the building dykes across estuaries, particularly in the west coast across the estuaries of Tengeh, Poyan, Murai and Sarimbun. Many offshore islands have become larger. Future reclamation will add more changes to the configuration of Singapore.

Method of Land Reclamation

The landfill mothod is used to reclaim land from the coast and the swamps in Singapore. It is also used in reclamation works involving the merging of islands. One such project is the amalgamation of Pulau Sakra and Pulau Bakau into one big island called Pulau Sakara, which is ten times the size of the two former islands.

In the early years, the fill materials evacuated from the hills in Bedok, Siglap, Tampines and Jurong were used for filling the reclamation areas. In recent years, sea sand obtained from the seabed is the main source of fill materials for reclamation. The reclamation contractors import the sea sand from the neighbouring countries such as Indonesia.