The allegations that Singapore's land reclamation was carried out using sand smuggled from its neighbouring countries ("The Sand Smugglers" Aug. 4, 2010) and that the government condones this illegal sand trade are baseless. Singapore is a small island. To support our economic development, we import sand to reclaim land within our terroritorial waters. This means sand is extracted from elsewhere and brought to Singapore. Since Malaysia and Indonesia banned sea sand exports, we have sourced for reclamation sand from other sources.
The Singapore government does not condone illegal smuggling of sand. We have put in specific and stringent procedures to ensure that sand is extracted legally and in compliance with the environmental laws and regulation of the source countries.
The JTC Corporation imports sand for Singapore's land reclamation projects. JTC requires sand suppliers to show documentary proof that the sand will come from an approved sand concession holder, and requires each sand load to have valid documentation on the date and source location. To date, all sand vendors have provided valid clearance documentation from the source countries.
Singapore expects sand suppliers to respect the laws and regulations of their source countries. We cannot police or enforce laws and regulations which are the sovereign responsibility of the source countries, but we will certainly cooperate with any investigations to the best of our ability within our laws, just as the Singapore authorities routinely cooperate with Malaysian and Indonesian enforcement agencies on a range of issues.
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