Information-Kallang River

Kallang River
In pre-colonial times, the original inhabitants of Singapore, the aboriginal biduanda orang kallang, lived in the swamps at the mouth of the Kallang River, and fished from their boats, seldom venturing out into the open sea. At the time when Sir Stamford Raffle landed in Singapore in 1819, half of the populations of 1,000 were orang kallang.

Kallang River is the place, too, where in the early days the Bugis traders from Sulawesi (Celebes) unloaded their cargoes of spices and tortoise shells, gold dust and slaves from their palari or their leteh leteh. These sailing boats were a common sight off the sea front even up to the 1960s.

Today, this long, winding river has little or no industry except for a short distance, although a new industrial estate  at Kallang Basin, near Kallang Bahru, has been built.

Future Development of Kallang River :P
Kallang River is now transformed into part of the water catchment area for the Marina Reservour. A new dam, the Marina Barrage, was built at the mouth of the Marina Channel at Marina south. With the completion of the Marina Barrage in 2008, the entire region comprising the basins of the SIngapore River Rochor River, Geylang River and Kallang River will be transformed into a water catchment area.

Extra (useless) information :B
In June 2005, the body parts of murder victim Liu Hong Mei were found near the confluence between the river and its tributary, the Rochor River.

Information-Geylang River

The Early Years of Geylang River ~.~

When it rained heavily during the monsoon season, our islanders had one great fear: flood.

Unlike Singapore today, which has a sophisticated and well-planned drainage system to prevent heavy flooding, people living in Singapore in the 1950s and early sixties were less fortunate. Those who lived in kampongs were particularly hard hit during floods.

The Joint Committee on Flood Alleviation was formed in 1951 to tackle the common rural problem of flooding, by improving the drainage system.

Through sustained efforts, the extent of flood-prone areas in Singapore has been reduced from 3178 hectares in the 1970s to only about 66 hectares now.

Making Progress
We continue to reduce the flood-prone areas through improving our drainage system. Some of our achievements are illustrated below:

  Before :/

                                                              After :P

Historically an important waterway and the main corridor of business activities for many decades. The river became heavily polluted from extensive business activities in and around the river until it was 'reborn' in 1987 after a massive clean-up of the river.

As we enter a new era, Singapore River will be transformed into a venue for recreational and cultural activities by the 21st century.

An essential feature of the Singapore River Development Plan was the reconstruction of the century-old river walls into strong embankment structures on deep-seated foundations. The Public Utilities Board commenced work to reconstruct the riverwalls at an estimated project cost of $140 million. The work started in 1992 and is completed in 1998.

The area around the Singapore River are now provided with an enlarged drainage outlet and stronger embankments to support riverfront developments.

This main drainage artery serves the Geylang area and the Tanjong Katong drainage catchment. The Public Utilities Board spent some $41 million with the primary objective of alleviating the severe flood situation in the area. In return, the area was protected by a bigger and sturdier structure. As a bonus, the river was turned into a clean and aesthetic waterway

Geylang River transformed into a clean and aestheic waterway.