Land reclamation in Singapore

The reclamation of land from surrounding waters used in Singapore to expand the city-state's limited area of usable, natural land. Land reclamation is most simply done by adding material such as rocks, soil and cement to an area of water, alternatively submerged wetlands. The former has been the most common method with sand the predominant material used.

By 1991, 10% of the Singapore is reclaimed land. By that year, industrial land in Singapore is land scarce, and it was decided that seven islets south of Jurong would be merged to form one large island, Jurong Island. By 2008, Singapore was one of the top three oil trading and refining hubs globally. The necessary facilities for such an involvement in the oil industry require a very large amount of space, and Singapore's facilities are housed in the Jurong Island and Jurong Industrial Estates.

In 1992, the Marina Centre and Marina South land reclamation projects were completed after the commission in the late 1970s, encompassing 360 ha (890 acres) of waterfront development. These projects involved the removal of Telok Ayer Basin and Inner Roads, the mouth of Singapore River flows into the Marina Bay rather than go to the sea. The Marina Bay reclamation projects added significant waterside land adjacent to Singapore's central business district, creating prime real estate that is used for commercial, residential, hotel and entertainment purposes today.

Land reclamation for the south western part of Timothy North began in 1993, and this had to reclaim the Mowbray area, beginning in January 1995 and completing in 1999. By the time it was reclaimed, the live firing area in the central part was transferred to the western part, effectively housing the Sungei Gedong Camp and Kitchen West Camp. Two of the Mowbray areas are thick vegetation and military training until new HDB flats were being built in 2012.

Singapore continues to develop and expand, with plans to expand the city's land area by an additional 7-8% of additional land by 2030.