‘Every inch counts’: He approves every land boundary in Singapore

In this series, people from all walks of life offer an inside – and often unfiltered – take on their livelihoods and what keeps them going in their jobs. In this instalment, chief surveyor Soh Kheng Peng explains what it takes to demarcate and maintain accurate boundaries in land-scarce Singapore, as told to The Straits Times.

I am 68 years old, and I am Singapore’s longest-serving chief surveyor, having been in the role since 2004. Essentially, I help to ensure that all boundaries are legally defined and free of ambiguity. One great thing about Singapore is that our land boundaries are clearly defined.

I also manage Singapore’s complex 3D land use across underground spaces, ground level and airspace. My work creates precise legal boundaries, and the approval of boundaries must follow a very strict regime.

For example, my team and I carry out surveys on islands along Singapore shores and demarcate their boundaries. We also establish primary control markers for higher accuracy survey works. These are some things private surveyors cannot do.

My role is a statutory appointment made by the minister under the Boundaries and Survey Maps Act. There is only one such person with the ultimate authority in this area, just as there is only one chief justice and one chief planner.

Surveying is one of the oldest professions in the world, dating back to ancient Egypt. When Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, established the colony, surveying was the first department he created. William Farquhar, who was involved in its initial development, personally conducted land surveys and completed a comprehensive survey of the settlement by 1820.

In land-scarce Singapore, it is imperative for me to maintain accurate boundaries, because every inch counts in providing certainty and avoiding disputes.

There are about 1.6 million apartments and 147,000 land parcels in Singapore. How do we keep track of these? I issue “lot numbers”, a unique legal number assigned to each land parcel or strata lot. It works like an IC number, but for land.

Since I approve all the boundaries in Singapore, they form a very uniform fabric – or what I call a template. If you look at a map of Singapore, it looks like a spiderweb.

Government agencies use these boundaries as a base for their own planning. For example, the Land Transport Authority uses them to review existing roads, and HDB uses them for public housing planning. Because everything comes from an authoritative single source – me – there will be no conflict between agencies.

After I completed my A levels, I was looking at more conventional fields such as engineering and architecture, but I wanted something more adventurous. So I decided to try surveying. I took up the Bachelor of Surveying at the University of Melbourne, where there were only about 20 places per year. The course was not very common, but I thought it was interesting. In surveying work, fundamentally you have to enjoy and be good at mathematics.

In my final year at university in 1980, I was offered a position at HDB by Singapore’s Public Service Commission. They travelled to Melbourne, interviewed the soon-to-be graduates and asked us whether we wanted a job in the Singapore government. I took a leap of faith and accepted the offer.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, HDB was in full swing with public housing construction, so they needed many architects, engineers – and a few surveyors. As a young surveyor, I was involved in the building of HDB developments in various towns, including Choa Chu Kang, Jurong West and Kampong Ubi. I was also involved in the construction of major roads in Eunos, as well as land reclamation projects where Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands are now located.

I work alongside architects and engineers – they work on the design while surveyors determine where the HDB blocks will be. How do you place the buildings on the ground? For instance, where must the trunk sewers run? Surveyors know these things. So we translate what is designed in the drawing onto the ground. That is the main role of surveyors. We must do it accurately because once you place the block in the wrong place – and all the piles are driven in – that is a disaster. It means you have underutilised the land.

There is very little tolerance for mistakes, and the damage caused by error can be very costly. Even centimetre-level inaccuracies can trigger multi-million-dollar disputes. So it is risky.

In the 1970s and 1980s, when the engineers cleared the site – for example, in Choa Chu Kang or Simei – it was such a big piece of empty land that placing the first HDB block on it was a heavy responsibility for any surveyor. You had to make sure it was in the right position, because if it ended up in the wrong place, the next block would be too close to it. Now, in a more developed city, the work demands greater precision. Thankfully, that precision has improved vastly.

I spent 22 years working at HDB and a year in Surbana Jurong before joining the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) in 2004 as the chief surveyor. There are more than 20 surveyors in my department, of whom eight are registered surveyors.

I maintain about 6,000 markers in Singapore – these are precise points authorised by SLA. Private registered surveyors use these markers to start their surveys. Whether it is construction or boundary determination, it is very important to start from a uniform marker, as there should be no overlap or error.

There are two types of markers. Primary control markers are the permanent, larger ones that can be seen from the air. These are for national mapping and are mostly located on building rooftops.

Secondary control markers are more easily accessible and are used by surveyors for daily work. If a survey needs to be done and there is no marker there, a registered surveyor is obliged to obtain a marker from us and install the new marker according to our guidelines.

There will be attrition because markers can be destroyed or cracked on roads, so new ones will be installed. Some areas in Singapore have fewer markers, such as Changi Airport, military firing ranges and the central water catchment area, because there is less development there. If the authorities request it, then registered surveyors will conduct the survey.

One of the biggest land dispute cases took place in 2002, involving a private condominium encroaching into state land. The developer had already transferred ownership of the land to residents, who then had to pay for the state land it was encroaching on.

That case changed the process of approving boundary plans. In April 2003, SLA required all developers to resolve any encroachments before ownership could be transferred to home buyers. It also highlighted the important role that registered surveyors play in land demarcation.

Since then, before we approve a survey plan, we must ensure that there is no encroachment on state land, such as roads or forested areas that belong to the state. If there is an encroachment, it must at least have a resolution.

If a property is encroaching on state land, SLA can take action to protect it for public use. But if the encroachment happens between private entities, we do not have to intervene. The respective landowners can settle the matter between themselves amicably.

We launched our first aerial 3D mapping project in 2014, and we were very excited as it involved flying an aircraft over the whole of Singapore and the offshore islands to take high-resolution pictures. A sensor mounted on the plane continuously captured images throughout the flights.

This marked a milestone for the agency, as it was the first time a civilian, non-military agency was allowed to take pictures from the air. We contracted a plane for 40 days to take images covering the whole of Singapore. I went up once for the experience – it was memorable, as I have always wanted to be a pilot.

Even though we had 40 days, we were not allowed to fly every day due to factors such as a crowded airspace or weather conditions. When it started raining or when the clouds were low, we could not go airborne. So we were very anxious every morning, wondering if we could successfully complete the mission. This made every minute of flight time very precious. More than 150,000 images were captured. It was good fun, and it was good for Singapore.

The 3D map produced can be useful for the simulation of wind or shadows, which are crucial to architects for designing and building purposes. It also supports many agencies in their respective projects. For example, PUB uses 3D data for flood management.

We also established the Singapore Satellite Positioning Reference Network in 2006 to support real-time, precise navigation and monitoring of all geospatial data in Singapore. Its pinpoint accuracy improves the positioning and navigation of autonomous vehicles and robots. For example, WeRide used this to power Singapore’s first publicly accessible autonomous bus service, which operated in Sentosa. Logistics company Chye Thiam Maintenance has also deployed autonomous road sweepers that can operate around the clock.

People have written to me to help them settle boundary disputes with their neighbours. I always tell them nicely that these are private matters between the two parties, and I suggest they engage a surveyor to determine the actual boundary if they cannot agree.

Disputes between neighbours tend to arise after 30 years, when, say, someone renovates their old property and wants to put up a new fence or wall. It means they have to deal with the previously underutilised space permanently.

Some of my friends think I am a land valuer, while others think I am a quantity surveyor. Many people think that surveying is only about measuring land, without realising it is a complex job involving technical, legal and managerial aspects. The job also involves data analysis and visualisation.

People also do not realise how much the profession has evolved. They think it is a difficult job – being out in the sun and drafting everything manually. But with new technology, we can do far more in much less time.

Of course, there are challenges. Engineers and surveyors are getting older, so when technological advancements were introduced in 2018 to switch the submission process from manual paper submissions to a digital survey platform, it was not easy to get our surveyors’ buy-in. I told them that it would be good for the profession and that it would enhance productivity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has improved the efficiency of surveying work in the office. Out in the field, I hope that in the future we will be able to send a humanoid robot into a construction site or forested area, for example, to cut the undergrowth, carry heavy equipment, identify the best surveying line and plant the markers. Right now, we rely on manpower to do this.

This may not happen during my career, but I hope the industry can develop such technology in the near future to help with surveying work. I do not think AI can replace land surveying and geomatics engineering jobs because these roles require soft skills and human interaction with landowners, public agencies, architects and engineers. The human elements are still very important in the profession.

I am very punctual and believe in precise timings. In my personal life, precision is also very important; for example, whenever I want to get a new home appliance or furniture, I have to be exact with the measurements. When I bought a wine chiller, I had to make sure I had a space of 150mm for ventilation.

For many Singaporeans, property ownership represents security, investment and often a lifetime of savings. When families purchase their homes or businesses invest in commercial properties, they are placing their trust in a system that depends entirely on the accuracy and reliability of our work. Knowing this gives my career profound meaning.

I am reminded that every measurement and every approval becomes the foundation for the future of Singapore.

Got an interesting job to share? Write in to us at ssharon@sph.com.sg.