Singapore spends $6m to relocate corals that were in the way of Tuas port development

2,300 colonies moved from Tuas to southern islands for port works
Christopher Tan, Straits Times AsiaOne 23 Apr 16;

Singapore has spent $6 million on relocating more than 2,000 coral colonies which were in the way of a port development in Tuas.

They were moved from Sultan Shoal, south of Tuas, to the waters off St John's and Sisters' islands as land reclamation necessary for the port development could destroy them.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said the expenditure, listed in the 2016 Budget Book, includes work started in 2013 and which will continue up to 2019.

A spokesman said it covers "coral relocation works, development of coral nurseries, including transplanting of the grown coral fragments to new locations, monitoring of coral health in the new recipient sites, and monitoring of the remaining corals at Sultan Shoal".

He said the project arose from an environmental impact study carried out in 2012.

Such studies are mandated by the Government, the MPA said, and the previous one was done before the Pasir Panjang terminals were built.

The Sultan Shoal coral relocation project was done with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and and the National Parks Board (NParks).

Some 2,300 out of 2,800 coral colonies were moved successfully and have survived.

"MPA continues to monitor the health and growth of the relocated corals," its spokesman added.

Between now and 2019, the authority will monitor the health of remaining corals at Sultan Shoal.

Some coral fragments were also transplanted to Kusu Island, Lazarus East and Lazarus West "to rehabilitate the degraded reefs, and to establish new reef communities at non-reef areas", he said.

SIM University senior lecturer Jason Morris-Jung said: "There is no benchmark to determine the dollars and cents' worth of any particular conservation project that I am aware of.

"They usually need to be calculated on a case-by-case basis, depending on the particular characteristics of an eco-system and its particular human benefits or uses."

He noted that coral reefs are important spawning and feeding grounds for fish, and hence they contribute to ocean fisheries.

"People also pay money to visit, snorkel and dive around coral reefs," he said, adding that reefs also protect against coastal erosion.

He cited a World Wide Fund for Nature study, which estimated the global economic value of coral reefs at US$30 billion (S$40.5 billion).

The World Resources Institute said the cost of destroying 1km of coral reef ranges between US$137,000 and $1.2 million over a 25-year period.

"Some years ago, Dubai paid US$10 million to relocate some 20,000 coral colonies," Dr Morris- Jung noted.

But he added that any financial analysis is inadequate because it is hard to put a value to an ecology that has taken "thousands or even millions of years to develop".


Other projects in 2016 Budget Book

•ERP EQUIPMENT

$33 million to replace expiring and outdated Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) equipment. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that even as Singapore moves towards the next- generation ERP system by 2020, selected gantry equipment and parts in the current system need to be replaced.

•MULTI-STOREY BUS DEPOT

$44.7 million for advanced engineering and consultancy services for a multi-storey bus depot. The LTA would not say where this depot will be, when it will be built, or even why it is looking to build such a depot.

•LIFTS FOR OVERHEAD BRIDGES

$110 million to install lifts at 41 overhead pedestrian bridges near transport nodes. Out of these, works have been completed at five; the rest will be completed by 2018. Outside this budget, the LTA fitted lifts at overhead bridges next to six MRT stations in 2014. There are more than 500 overhead pedestrian bridges in Singapore.