Singapore needs more space and building underground may be the solution
- Authorities want to put utilities, transport as well as storage and industrial facilities underground to free up land on the surface
- Reclamation has become more expensive as it moved to deeper waters, while countries that used to sell sand to Singapore have stopped exports
The nation has carefully managed its rapid growth in recent decades to avoid the problems faced by other fast developing Asian metropolises, such as overcrowding and traffic chaos.
But with its population of 5.6 million expected to grow steadily in coming years, authorities are now considering how to better use the space below the streets in a city that is just half the size of Los Angeles.
Singapore has already built an underground highway and state-of-the-art air conditioning system, but is now looking to house more facilities beneath the surface to optimise land use above it.
“We need to consider options for putting critical infrastructure underground,” said Abhineet Kaul, a Singapore-based public sector specialist at consultancy Frost & Sullivan. “We have an increasing need for industrial, commercial, residential and green space on land in Singapore.”