The Ministry of National Development (MND) has confirmed that an underground space masterplan is now in the works and will be released this year.
The high-level Economic Strategies Committee has named underground space as a strategic resource for land-strapped Singapore.
A vast labyrinth of interconnected tunnels winding across Singapore lies underneath Chinatown. Built entirely underground, the Downtown railway line forms part of the country’s decades-long effort to go down under to seek for additional space.
However, not all of Singapore has rock that is solid enough to accommodate cavern developments. To locate the good rock, a geology office is needed.
The Singapore Geology Office aims to create an information database on Singapore’s geology in order to facilitate future underground developments.
Most of the information on Singapore’s geology is derived from a 1976 national survey that was updated in 2009. Developers and government agencies have referred to these sources, if not commissioned their own studies.
“The existing information is quite shallow because it’s mainly targeted at infrastructure works like MRT, services or building basements. There isn’t much information at deeper levels like 100 metres or more,” said Kiefer Chiam, Assistant Director at the Building and Construction Authority’s Geological Office.
According to Adele Tan, Deputy Director of Planning Policies at the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), “Those are things we have to sort out amongst the agencies. We work closely with each other on it. And where there are conflicts, we have to talk it through and see what are the most optimal alignment and the most cost-effective alignment.”
Subterranean expansion, still in its early stages, is likely to take years as urban planners are still laying the ground for future development.
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