Cruise down Singapore River 1987

For more than a century since 1819, Singapore River and its banks were the focal point of all global and regional trade passing the island. 

Commercial activities concentrated along the banks of the river attracted squatter colonies, hawkers and backyard industries. Pollution became a major problem as garbage, sewage and industrial waste were dumped into the river.

Starting in 1822 and for more than 100 years, multiple committees had been established by the different governments to study the state of the river and propose alternatives on improving its navigation and solving pollution.

The last colonial commission to clean up the river was set up in 1950s and it estimated the cost to clean the river at about S$30 million.

However, the implementation on the commission’s report failed to achieve its targets due to financial difficulties and complexity of the problem.

It was only in 1969 that then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew set the machinery that would result into the clean-up of the river as a part of an overall strategy of urban development of the city-state.

http://global-is-asian.nus.edu.sg/index.php/clean-up-of-the-singapore-river-before-and-after/