Land reclamation in Singapore

The reclamation of land from surrounding waters is used in Singapore to expand the city-state’s limited area of usable, natural land. Land reclamation is the process of creating new land by building outwards into local bodies of water. There are several different methods of reclaiming land, but the most basic approach involves the importation and dumping of large amounts of heavy rock and/or cement into the desired waters, creating a firm base onto which clay and dirt are added until the anticipated new land height is reached. Draining submerged wetlands or similar biomes in order to recover land also classifies as land reclamation.

Similarly useful to the relatively small, coastal territories of Hong Kong and Macau, the process of land reclamation allows for increased development and urbanization. Each of these coastal territories is restrained by its geographical boundaries, and is thus traditionally limited by the ocean’s reach. The use of land reclamation allows these territories to expand outwards by recovering land from the sea.

Land reclamation has been used in Singapore since the early 19th century, extensively so in this last half-century in response to the city-state’s rapid economic growth. At just 719 square kilometers, the entire country of Singapore is smaller than New York City.^, As such, the Singaporean government has found it necessary to reclaim land. Land reclamation projects have been used to supplement the city-state’s available commercial, residential, industrial, and governmental properties (the last of which entails military/official buildings). Land reclamation in Singapore also allows for the preservation of local historic and cultural communities, as the pressure for new land is lessened by the reclamation of land from the sea.

In 1960, Singapore was home to less than two million people; that number had more than doubled by 2008, to almost four and a half million people. To keep up with such an increase in population (as well as a concurrent surge in the country’s economy and industrialization efforts), Singapore has increased its land mass by 22% since the city-state’s independence in 1965, with land continuously being set aside for future use.^, Though Singapore’s native population is no longer increasing as rapidly as it was in the mid-twentieth century, foreigners continue to flood into the city as the economy thrives, resulting in a continued investment in land reclamation by the Singapore government.^, The government thus plans to expand the city-state by an additional 7-8% by 2030.

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Wikipedia