Singapore goes underground for space
China National News Saturday 23rd February, 2013
Planners in Singapore are looking to bore underground in order to accommodate the country's dense population.
One of the most populated countries in the world, Singapore's land is becoming scarce.
Experts have suggested that over the next twenty years Singapore's population will swell by a third.
While the island nation has always been good at expanding upward and outward, the city's planners want to take the next step.
Vast caverns will accommodate people, transport and shopping malls, which have already become part of the subterranean real estate.
With a population target in twenty years of 6.9 million people, an increase of 1.3 million from the present, rapid immigration is likely to require a solution to overcrowding.
Singapore has about 675 square kilometres of land and has limited options for increasing its space.
Land reclaimed from the sea already accounts for a fifth of its mass.
New housing above ground will require the closing of golf courses, some of the country's nature reserves and military training grounds.
A additional 700,000 homes and new shops are expected to be built within the next two decades.
The underground possibilities are currently being explored by Singapore's top technological minds following a 1999 study which found underground levels in one part of Singapore alone could accommodate cinemas, university lecture rooms, libraries, offices, laboratories and car parking.
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....aren't we lucky ?
China National News Saturday 23rd February, 2013
Planners in Singapore are looking to bore underground in order to accommodate the country's dense population.
One of the most populated countries in the world, Singapore's land is becoming scarce.
Experts have suggested that over the next twenty years Singapore's population will swell by a third.
While the island nation has always been good at expanding upward and outward, the city's planners want to take the next step.
Vast caverns will accommodate people, transport and shopping malls, which have already become part of the subterranean real estate.
With a population target in twenty years of 6.9 million people, an increase of 1.3 million from the present, rapid immigration is likely to require a solution to overcrowding.
Singapore has about 675 square kilometres of land and has limited options for increasing its space.
Land reclaimed from the sea already accounts for a fifth of its mass.
New housing above ground will require the closing of golf courses, some of the country's nature reserves and military training grounds.
A additional 700,000 homes and new shops are expected to be built within the next two decades.
The underground possibilities are currently being explored by Singapore's top technological minds following a 1999 study which found underground levels in one part of Singapore alone could accommodate cinemas, university lecture rooms, libraries, offices, laboratories and car parking.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
....aren't we lucky ?