Singapore's Reclamation Story
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BIBLIOASIA APR – JUN 2017 Vol. 13 / Issue 01 / Feature Lim Tin Seng is a Librarian with the National (Facing page) Aerial photograph of ongoing reclamation work in Tuas. Photo by Richard W. J. Koh. All rights Library, Singapore. He is the co-editor of reserved, Koh, T. (2015). Over Singapore (pp. 108–109). Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. Roots: Tracing Family Histories – A Resource (Below) This lithograph (c. 1850) by Lieutenant Edwin Augustus Porcher from the British Royal Navy Guide (2013), Harmony and Development: shows the view as seen from South Boat Quay, where Singapore’s first reclamation took place in 1822. ASEAN-China Relations (2009) and Courtesy of the National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board. (Bottom) Named after George Chancellor Collyer, then Chief Engineer of the Straits Settlements, Collyer China’s New Social Policy: Initiatives for Quay was built on reclaimed land by convict labour and completed in 1864. Courtesy of National Archives a Harmonious Society (2010). He is also a of Singapore. LAND regular contributor to BiblioAsia. FROM Over the past two centuries, Singapore’s land area has expanded by a whopping 25 percent – from 58,150 to 71,910 hectares (or 578 to 719 sq km).1 This gradual increase in land surface is not because of tectonic movements or divine intervention, but SAND orather the miracle of a man-made engi- Singapore’s Reclamation Story neering feat known as land reclamation. The quest for land is as old as time immemorial; one of the reasons nations go to war is to gain new territory to sup- port a growing population. Land-scarce Singapore, however, has elected to create new land by reclaiming it from the rivers and the seas. Boat Quay: The First Reclamation Project Many people think of land reclamation in Singapore as a fairly recent phenomenon, but in actual fact the earliest reclamation project took place in colonial times. When Stamford Raffles landed at the mouth of the Singapore River in January 1819, the lay of the land was vastly different from what we see today. The river was flanked by mangrove swamps and mosquito-infested jungle, and what is now Telok Ayer Street and Beach Road were coastal areas that hugged the sea. It did not take long for the British to get was built along the river’s edge to prevent conceived by the Municipal Engineer, down to business. Singapore was officially the water from overflowing into the land. George Chancellor Collyer. claimed by Raffles as a colony, and just four The process took about four months and Collyer wanted to build a seawall to years later, the island witnessed the first gave rise to a crescent-shaped area known serve as a landing site and a road behind it of its many topographic transformations. today as Boat Quay. This, together with what so that merchants could have their estab- The first land reclamation project in was left of the hillock, became Commercial lishments facing the waterfront. This would Singapore took place in 1822 at the south Square – and eventually, Raffles Place – the not only improve the “aspect of Singapore’s bank of the Singapore River. Initially, Raf- heart of the commercial district as mapped waterfront”, but also allow the merchants fles had eyed the Esplanade-Rochor River out in Raffles’ 1822 town plan of Singapore.3 to keep an eye on the movement of ships beach front, north of Singapore River, as carrying their goods. Indeed, some of the the commercial district. But as the area Collyer Quay: Creating the Waterfront first buildings constructed along Collyer Thanks to land reclamation, the tiny red dot has broadened was unsuitable for shipping activities due Quay were linked at the second storey by a to shallow waters and the surf, Raffles Boat Quay and Commercial Square grew verandah that faced the sea. Peons armed its shores substantially. Lim Tin Seng discovers just how altered his town plan accordingly.2 rapidly. By the late 1860s, the mercantile with telescopes would be stationed along As the south bank occupied a low- community had outgrown the site, spilling the verandah to announce the arrival of much Singapore has grown since colonial times. lying marsh that was prone to flooding, a over to another reclaimed strip of land to their company ships.5 hillock near where Battery Road is located the south. Known as Collyer Quay, this As work on the foundation of the today was levelled to provide earth to fill stretch – from Johnston’s Pier to the old seawall could be carried out only when the the wetlands. About 300 coolies were hired Telok Ayer Market – was reclaimed between tide was at its lowest ebb, an occurrence to carry out the work and an embankment 1859 and 1864.4 This was part of a scheme that took place once every fortnight, the 16 17 BIBLIOASIA APR – JUN 2017 Vol. 13 / Issue 01 / Feature reclamation proceeded at a glacial pace. June 1937 by Governor Shenton Thomas, government agencies appointed to carry out Phases III and IV began simultaneously in It took three years for the seawall to be who declared it the “finest airport in the land reclamation in Singapore. But first, 1971 at both ends of the newly reclaimed completed and another year to lay the world”. PWD Director Major R. L. Nunn before any work began, a pilot project was East Coast strip. When work was completed road behind it.6 said that it was an “audacious engineering carried out by the HDB in 1963 to reclaim in 1975, Phase III had added 67 hectares of achievement”.20 48 acres in the Bedok area. land to the foreshore fronting Tanjong Rhu First Reclamation at Telok Ayer: Even as Kallang Basin was being Work on the East Coast Reclamation and Queen Elizabeth Walk, while Phase IV Redrawing the Coastline reclaimed, the authorities had embarked site began officially in 1966 and would con- added 486 hectares from Bedok to Tanah on another project in June 1932. This tinue for a remarkable 30 years over seven Merah Besar. In the late 1800s, Collyer Quay was further would add 47 acres to the Beach Road phases.25 Phases I and II from Bedok to the Phase V involved the reclamation expanded when the Telok Ayer Reclamation Reclamation site to create a foreshore tip of Tanjong Rhu took place between 1966 of Telok Ayer Basin. Starting in 1974, it Scheme was commissioned. Carried out that would stretch from Stamford Road and 1971, resulting in 458 hectares of land extended the already reclaimed foreshore between 1879 and 1897, it altered the shore- to Rochor River. The site, also known as as well as a 9-km stretch of sandy beach. by 34 hectares and expanded the basin. line of Telok Ayer by extending it seaward Raffles Reclamation Ground, was created with a 42-acre tract.7 The aim was to create by two earlier reclamations that took place new land so that thoroughfares, including in the 1840s and 1890s. The reclaimed LAND RECLAMATION: HOW DOES IT WORK? By the mid-1980s, however, these Cecil Street, Robinson Road and Raffles land was used to build Alhambra and resources began to run out and Sin- Quay, could be built to link the commercial Marlborough cinemas, Beach Road police The proposed site for reclamation is gapore had to import sand from neigh- district and the new port at Tanjong Pagar station, and the Singapore Volunteer Corps first investigated to determine seabed bouring countries. This soon became a via Telok Ayer.8 Previously, these two areas Headquarters and Drill Hall (the former conditions, availability of fill materials problem when the cost of foreign sand were cut off by the hills of Mount Wallich, Beach Road Camp). The open land also as well as the shape and alignment of skyrocketed from less than $20 per Mount Palmer and Mount Erskine, making regularly hosted football matches and the reclaimed area. Environmental sq m in the 1970s to $200 per sq m in the movement of goods between the port circus shows.21 studies are then carried out to assess the 90s. The situation hit crisis levels and town cumbersome.9 This latest reclamation plan would the impact on water quality, water when Malaysia and Indonesia banned This reclamation project was a com- turn the Beach Road shoreline into a level, tidal flow, sedimentation and the export of sand to Singapore in 1997 plex one as the Public Works Department “new waterfront”, with a bridge built over marine life. and 2007 respectively. (PWD) had to blast out parts of Mount Stamford Canal to provide a “waterfront Work proper begins with the Although Singapore had to Wallich and Mount Palmer in order to drive” from Anderson Bridge to Kallang. To erection of containment dykes made turn to other countries for sand, it create an opening into Tanjong Pagar. The An aerial view of the Central Business District in the 1950s with the octagonal-shaped Telok Ayer Market complement this vision, a 6-acre reclama- of sand and rock around the perimeter recently developed a more sustain- earth from the excavations was then used (Lau Pa Sat) on the left and Clifford Pier jutting out into the sea on the right. In the foreground is Telok tion project was commissioned in 1939 to of the area to be reclaimed. Materials able method that has reduced the as landfill to create Telok Ayer Bay. The Ayer Basin where small vessels once anchored. The tidal basin was eventually reclaimed in the 1970s. enlarge the Esplanade along Connaught such as cut-hill soil, sand and clay amount of sand needed for reclama- © Urban Redevelopment Authority.