Underground, the new frontier

As surface land becomes scarce, Singapore is looking at burrowing deep down to create more space for its people.

DURING some imaginative moments, it is not beyond resource-starved Singaporeans to daydream about striking oil or gold in their backyard.

The question then is: Does it belong to the people or to the state? No sure answer there, but most would probably say, “The landowner, of course, if it’s freehold land.”

Apparently the government isn’t too certain, either, as it plans to burrow deep into the earth’s bowels for more space to cater to a lot more people to work, study and play.

The Law Ministry said it will study subterranean ownership laws of other countries for possible adoption.

Currently, the land owner is deemed to own the underground space down to a certain depth that is reasonably necessary for the use and enjoyment of the property.

With a planned population of 6.9 million by 2030 for Singapore, already the second densest city in the world, the prospect of an underground city has become real and hence the need for such a law.

The government is eyeing developing an underground version of the 2008 master plan.

The Building Construction Authority, which oversees a new agency responsible for surveying underground, said it could become a reality by 2050.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the government is mulling over drafting an underground Master Plan soon for public consultation.

Singaporeans have reacted with excitement coupled with concern that they will somehow have to pay for it.

“Such developments do cost more, especially if the cheaper alternative of using surface land is available,” said Khaw.

An engineering friend commented wryly: “Being normal over-ground is already making us one of the world’s most expensive cities. Imagine the costs for going underground!”

Others are worried about unsuitable soil and potential accidents as well as impact on floods that sometimes engulf large tracts of Singapore.

Yet, some Singaporeans view it as a creative, exciting way of enlarging space, a long-time preoccupation here since independence.

When I was a trainee correspondent with an international news agency in the 60s, one of my early assignments was to report on a new law to clear cemeteries. It cleared the island of all non-Muslim cemeteries.

I wrote then, “On this landsqueezed Singapore, even the dead have to make way for the living.”

This was followed by a plan to build the new city skywards. Towering residential blocks soon began to dot the landscape; people began living stacked on top of one another.

At the same time, the government began pushing back the sea via reclamation, whicheventuallyincreased the land size by one fifth. After decades at it, Singapore is bigger by a whole Hong Kong island.

The government-supported The Straits Times described underground living as the “next frontier”.

Singaporeans may one day “live, work and play below ground in vast, subterranean caverns that make today’s underground malls look like home basements”, it said.

The proposed expansion of population by a third has stirred much public unhappiness, compelling the government into action to tackle the dilemma of overcrowdedness.

The ability to create space has become top priority. Pushing underground is not new. For years now the city has been storing some of its military munitions in this way.

Work is also ahead for similar storage facilities for crude oil and oil products.

Next could be power stations, warehouses, incineration plants, airport logistics centres and even reservoirs all below ground.

The two biggest universities are also moving big with the trend.

A reporter wrote: “Students may one day borrow books from an underground library, attend lectures in a subterranean auditorium or even swim in an Olympic-size swimming pool below sea level.”

Another is the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). The relatively new Central Circle Line has 29 stations and run some 33km underneath central Singapore.

One of the stations, Dhoby Ghaut, stands out as an underground engineering feat.

The five-level subterranean station links three MRT lines and a shopping complex and the Istana Park andwill cater for 20,000 people an hour at its peak.

Singapore is also building belowground ring roads, more shopping complexes and a massive underground sewage system.

Creating a city underground is, of course, slow and very costly, but less intrusive; something that goes on almost without interruption through the years.

Two other major underground projects are still ongoing. They are:

> A S$4.8bil (RM12bil) network of ring road below the central business district, a concept taken from Paris that will take 10 years to build, and

> A S$9bil (RM23bil) subterranean sewage system that comprises two highway-size tunnels criss-crossing the island 12 storeys below ground. It could take 20 years to complete.

So far there has been no mention about people living underground, an idea that some Singaporeans could find unacceptable.

But Singaporeans in the next generation would have to get used to the idea of working, studying or shopping below sea levels. > The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.