More "Good Earth" for Singapore

Reclaimed land （right) along East Coast and Katong area in Singapore.  The reclamation project is part of Singapore's Urban Renewal in 1971.

Following the previous blog topic: Who's "Good Earth" Is This Anyway? which my American "heritage friend" from California wondered why is there a concern for the population in Singapore projected at 6.9 million by 2030.  The Singapore Government has recently published the Population White Paper：Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore．He asked "What's the big deal? We have plenty of land to build and develop ... homes to increase the population for everyone!"

 

The above photos from YouTube video "This Land Is Your Land". Credit with thanks to davidsummerford.

This land is his land (United States of America), a big, big country with abundant "good earth", but not my land (Singapore) ... a small island which some unkind people describe our country as a "little red dot on the map" or as the “size of a small 'nose shit' or dried nose mucus".

Frankly, when we look at a standard-sized map, the little dot of Singapore above the equator could not be seen.  The seven continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia (mainly China), Australia, Europe, North and South America.

The sizes of the countries in the world are not distributed equally. The size of a person (height, weight, fat or thin)  of everyone are not the same or equally.  Of course, the wealth of the countries in terms of natural resources are created unequal.   The distribution of natural resources in the world are found here .  Blessed are the countries with minerals such as diamond, gold, silver, precious metals and raw material such as oil which are in the ground.  These are "good, rich earth" for land.

Singapore may be a small, tiny island with little "good earth" available and created by God.   Most of the tourist attractions places are man-made, developed, built over the centuries by our forefathers, ancestors.  Many, many Singaporeans and foreigners in the past and present generations help to make it our nation, our homeland.  Make it an even better Singapore for all future generations for them to inherit.

All things being equal, we blog to express on the topic of the sizes of the available "good earth" (land) to be used in as many ways as possible in Singapore for the people.

Whose city is it anyway?  Please check out the "Reclaimland" - the fight for space in Singapore" here .

Land Reclaimation in Singapore

Land reclamation is exceptionally important for a highly populated country like Singapore. Land reclamation has helped Singapore to increase the amount of land for us to use.  Singapore started land reclaimation as early as 1820s, which is during the colonial. However land reclamations carried out during that period are in small scales. It was only in the 1960s that land reclamation was carried out on a large scale.

Mount Palmer in Singapore was levelled in 1912 to develop and build it into a thriving commercial and financial center as Shenton Way .

Housing and Development Board Exhibition at Outram Road on 26 July 1965

East Coast Reclaimation Scheme

The East Coast Reclamation Scheme was launched in April 1966 and was completed 20 years later at the end of 1986. Prior to this project, a smaller reclamation project had taken place in 1963 to reclaim 19 ha of land at 14 km East Coast Road. The East Coast Reclamation Scheme scheme was carried out in seven phases at a total cost of $613 million. It reclaimed 1,525 ha and added about 1km of shoreline. For this reclamation project, The Housing and Development Board (HDB) acted as the agent for the government, undertaking the planning, design and supervision of construction.

Fill material used in the reclamation project was obtained through the cutting of hills in Siglap and Tampines. The area was subsequently excavated to form Bedok Reservoir. The cut soil was then transported by belt conveyors all the way to a loading jetty off Bedok, loaded onto barges and dumped directly into the reclaimed area. Bulldozers and dump trucks then spread, graded and compacted the reclaimed land to its final levels.

The reclaimed land has been used for the construction of residential housing, commercial buildings and recreational facilities. Residential units included private housing and high-rise HDB flats. While it expanded land use, conservationists have lamented the consequential loss of natural coastlines as well as the threat of reclamation to existing marine life. (Source:  Singapore Infopedia)

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.

The selected archived photos of the East Coast Reclaimation Schemes are curated to share on this blog with the courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) with thanks and acknowledgement.

The East Coast Park and the Marine Parade housing estates are the completed reclaimed land in Singapore today.

Marine Parade "Heartland"

 

East Coast Park

The East Coast Park, Singapore is reclaimed from the sea to increase the "good earth" for better usage of land, the old way to new ... the enjoyment and recreation of everyone.  "Care For Our Park".



This home-made video for "One Day @ East Coast Park Singapore" uploaded to YouTube with the courtesy of dinxpassion with thanks to share us on this blog.