There is talk of a relocation in the medium to long term of Singapore's port operations in the city centre to the west.
Recently, the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) has issued a tender for soil investigation and seismic surveys there. This work is to start in November/December, with the contract period covering 14 months. 'There will be reclamation in that area, although not immediately after the soil investigation project,' it added.
'There are already a lot of ships anchored there as the water is deep, and the location looks ideal,' said one source who has heard of the possible shift of part of MPA's operations to the area.
When asked about the port move, an MPA spokesman would only say that 'there is no firm plan for Tuas View area at the moment. We will share details when ready'.
SembMarine just last month announced its plans to build a massive, integrated yard at Tuas View Extension to which it will relocate its present Jurong operations. Development of its 73.3-ha first phase will be completed by 2013, with the entire new yard to be built over 12 years. It is understood that JTC is about to complete reclaiming land needed for the phase 2 development of SembMarine's yard.
Meanwhile, JTC has just called a tender for soil investigation for a proposed road at phase 3 of the Tuas View Extension site.
Full article on the wildsingapore news blog.
What natural shores are nearby?
The beautiful shores of Tuas are up the Johor Straits. This is one of the sites monitored by TeamSeagrass. More photos of marinelife at Tuas are on wildsingapore flickr.
Across the Johor Straits are the Sungai Pulai estuary "possibly the richest marine bio-diversity spot in Malaysia" and gazetted a Wetland of International Importance in 2003. The area is already going to be impacted by plans to develop a massive petrochemical installation there.
Related posts
- Reclamation at Tuas, extended to Dec 09
- More reclamation and refinery expansion expected on Jurong Island
- A sliver of living shore at Tuas
- More posts about Tuas.
More links
- Tuas to have mega port for all container shipments Long-term plan will raise efficiency of port operations and free up prime land Alvin Foo Straits Times 2 Oct 12;
- Dire Need To Protect Malaysia's Watersheds
Melati Mohd Ariff, Bernama 20 Apr 09; - Call to conserve seagrasses in Johor: Seagrass site of great value The Star 1 Jan 09;
- Seahorses in Johor under threat
Ahmad Fairuz, The New Straits Times 8 Nov 08; - Petrochemicals and seahorses
New Straits Times 4 Jun 08;
- Do: Save our seahorses Debra Chong New Straits Times 30 Sep 06
- Marine Conservation Area proposed at Sungai Pulai estuary, Johor Bernama 9 Nov 07
- Sungai Pulai mangroves to be cleared; EIA not yet done
An email from Save our Seahorses, 20 Nov 07 - Developer Allays Fears Over Project at Sungai Pulai Johor
Nisha Sabanayagam, New Straits Times Red Orbit 3 Jun 08 - Petrochemicals and seahorses
New Straits Times 4 Jun 08
