Land reclamation: Can we do it?
THE other day, I was watching on television European and American scientists applying their collective knowledge to claim land from the ocean for the land-hungry kingdom of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Already huge land has been reclaimed there and mega structures have been built to expand and beautify the city.
Interestingly, billionaires from across the world, including the owner of Virgin Air, have shown interest in buying some of the artificially created islands. Singapore had done so years ago.
Wikipedia says: "The East Coast is a beach park located on the southeastern coast of Singapore. It was opened in the 1970s. The 1.85 square kilometre East Coast Park is the largest park in Singapore, and is built entirely on reclaimed land. The beach is protected by breakwaters. A cycling and inline skating track runs along the perimeter of the park, which measures at least 20 km long."
What is land reclamation? Well, I am not an expert; so let's see what Wikipedia has to say about this. "Land reclamation can be the creation of new land where there was once water. Notable examples in the West include parts of New Orleans; Washington, D.C. (which is partially built on land that was once a swamp); Mexico City (which is situated at the former site of Lake Texcoco); Helsinki (of which the major part of the city centre is built on reclaimed land); the Cape Town foreshore; the Chicago shoreline; the Manila Bay shoreline; Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts; Battery Park City, Manhattan; the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium; the southwestern residential area in Brest, Belarus, the polders of the Netherlands; and the Toronto Islands, Leslie Street Spit, and the waterfront in Toronto.
In the Far East, Japan, the southern Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Macau, and the city-state of Singapore, where land is in short supply, are also famous for their efforts in land reclamation. One of the earliest and famous projects was the Praya Reclamation Scheme, which added 50 to 60 acres (240,000 m2) of land in 1890 during the second phase of construction.
It was one of the most ambitious projects ever taken during the Colonial Hong Kong era. Some 20% of land in the Tokyo Bay area has been reclaimed. Monaco and the British territory of Gibraltar are also expanding due to land reclamation. Rio de Janeiro was largely built on reclaimed land.
Artificial islands are an example of land reclamation. Kansai International Airport (in Osaka) and Hong Kong International Airport are examples where this process was deemed necessary. The Palm Islands, The World and Hotel Burj al-Arab off Dubai in the United Arab Emirates are other examples of artificial islands.
Well, from that TV program last week I came to know how necessity provoked ingenuity to work up to its finest finale. It's brilliant...bit by bit the land coming up, taking shape, solidifying and then settling down to allow construction of buildings and roads. I marvelled as I watched! What can't the human brain conceptualise! What can't the human brain accomplish! As I was watching, I began to think of my own country and began to contemplate in solitude.
Our population is going bonkers. We'll be left with no land to accommodate nearly 25 crore people in 2050 and beyond. We, therefore, will need more land. Then again, some of our land is being gobbled up by the sea! With ocean water level rising because of polar ice meltdown, some parts of Bangladesh will go into the sea in another fifty to hundred years. So, we are in a precarious situation. On one hand, we have small land area, on the other; a great portion of it will go into the sea! Whew!
Then what I thought of next would be termed as the dream of a troubled mind. I thought, we have world-class scientists and we have generous donors to give us billions of dollars to pour into our gutters and sewers.
Why don't we dig out some of that money from the gutters and then engage our scientists with the task of reclaiming land from the sea? I know it's a brilliant idea, but do our politician brothers ever think of such things? Shouldn't they actually think about such things instead of exhausting five months in quarrelling about who-will-sit-where in parliament?
Shouldn't they talk with the scientists of the country to take pre-emptive measures to face the imminent threat that is coming in the wake of global warming? What will they do when our islands, like Kutubdia, and parts of the main land in the southern part slowly begin to go into the sea? Will they look for answers then? I know their next generations will live in comfort in the US or Australia but what about the 30 crore people of this country?
Maldives is already looking for land to buy to accommodate its entire population of 3lakh plus. Those tiny islands will surely go below the water once it rises by two meters or so. The Maldives government is thinking about it now and taking pro-active measures. We, too, will have to start our work now. Land reclamation and creation of a green belt around the coastline are two things that can be initiated to protect and increase our land area. Hope somebody important is reading this piece.
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