First Land Reclamation Project by HDB

Some of the land areas of Singapore were reclaimed from the rivers and the seas to create new land in order to support a growing population in the early days. This is known as land reclamation. The HDB also carried out reclamation projects to build flats so that Singaporeans can have a roof over their heads. The earliest reclamation project was focused on Kallang Basin. Before the reclamation in the early 1960s, Kallang Basin used to be surrounded by squatter huts where residents lived in unsanitary conditions.
Kallang Basin in the midst of reclamation, 1964
Squatter huts in Kallang Basin before land reclamation, 1964
Over the next decade until the mid-1970s, approximately 1000 acres of land have been reclaimed at Kallang Basin to build not only new flats in 3 neighbourhoods but also industrial development like flatted factories and terrace factories so that residents who were rehoused into these new flats could look for employment opportunities easily.
An aerial view of Bendemeer Road, 1967

A newly-completed 12-storey block in Bendemeer Road, 1967
One of the industrial factories in Kallang Basin, 1967




New flats at Bendemeer Road in the vicinity of Boon Keng MRT Station, 1970
Block 29 Bendeemer Road Market and Food Centre, 1971
Newly-completed 1-room flats at Kallang Basin, 1971
One of the longest HDB block in a curved segment at Whampoa West, 1971
Kallang Basin Neighbourhood III at Geylang Bahru, 1973
New flats at Sims Place with a hawker centre in the foreground, 1974
Upper Boon Keng Road Estate, 1975

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