Singapore plans to keep coastal engineers busy for the next 20 years

A waterfront city, a consolidated port and more land reclamation could keep Singapore's coastal engineers busy for the next twenty years.

Not bad for a tiny little island. Singapore's Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), has a few plans in the pipeline that will keep the nation's coastal engineering sector busy for the next three decades or so.

The Economic Strategies Committee, whose objective is to develop and recommend strategies to grow the nation as a leading global city in the heart of Asia, has plans to make a waterfront city, a consolidated port and continue to reclaim land according to a report from the committee.

The waterfront city which will be located where the current Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Pulau Brani port is located may begin construction upon the expiration of the port's lease terminals in 2027. The Economic Strategies Committee decision behind the waterfront city was a "strategic shift to a productivity-driven economy requires us to make bold moves to re-plan our city and recycle land to support new economic activities," the report said.

And the waterfront city will also bring about spin-off industries that will revolve around proposed waterfront city. "With a land area comparable in size to Marina Bay, this area can be comprehensively master-planned and progressively redeveloped as a new waterfront city with the potential to capture international attention. This will potentially allow for a substantial expansion of the business district, integrated with waterfront housing, hotels, lifestyle and tourism uses," the Economic Strategies Committee said in a note.

But where will the ports containers and cargo go?

Tuas. The ESC is considering under Concept Plan 2011 the feasibility of a consolidated port at Tuas in the long term, which will have with adequate handling capacity to ensure continued competitiveness. "If feasible, it will increase port efficiency by allowing the port to achieve greater economies of scale in terms of land and operations, and free up existing port land to support new economic activities in the future," said the ESC.

Finally the ESC has stated that although land reclamation has been an area that Singapore has excelled at in the past, there will be limitations with this process going forward which may force Singaporeans underground.

"While we can expand our land mass through reclamation as we have done for Marina Bay, there will be limits in the long-run. In the next 10 years, the government should seek to catalyse the development of underground space as a means to intensify land use," the ESC stated in their report.

For more on the business of coastal engineering visit www.coastalengineeringasia.com.