SINGAPORE: Few islands have ballooned in size like Singapore, whose original beaches, dunes and mangroves have disappeared under the pavement of its expanding metropolis. Over the last four decades, Singapore’s borders have swollen by nearly 20 per cent with a relentless series of land reclamation projects.

“It is definitely one of the fastest-growing islands in the world,” said Ng Cho Nam, an associate professor of geography at the University of Hong Kong.

But the wealthy Southeast Asian island may finally be nearing its peak size, say environmental experts and political scientists.

Neighbouring Indonesia stopped selling the sand Singapore needs to keep growing two years ago, fearing damage to its environment from constant sand mining, and concerned that Singapore was redrawing its maritime boundaries as its shoreline bulges.

There is no sign of an end to the impasse though diplomatic relations are improving.

The ambitions of Singapore and its 4.2 million, predominantly ethnic Chinese people, have often seem oversized for a small island of 699 sq km — about half the size of metropolitan Houston, with double the population.

“Generally, there is a widespread understanding that land reclamation is a rescue formula for small states everywhere,” said assistant professor Alan Chong from the political science department at the National University of Singapore.

“It is the conventional notion that the territory and size of a country correlates with its material prosperity.”

Without sand from its main supplier, two reclamation projects aiming to create 49 square km of new land have stalled since 2003, dealing a setback to Singapore’s ambitions to expand its coast by another 14 per cent over the next 50 years.

For Singapore, Asia’s third-wealthiest society after Japan and Hong Kong, hitting its physical limit stings with symbolism, as its population ages rapidly and competition heats up from the emerging, fast-growing markets of China and India for investment.

But environmentalists are celebrating, saying decades of land reclamation has devastated shallow marine life and birds that sought refuge in the fragile ecosystems consisting of inlets, mangroves and shoals that once ringed Singapore.—Reuters