Section 79

Subject to this section, a person must not, without the written consent of the Authority, carry out any of the following operations:

The Authority may, as a condition of considering an application for consent under this section, require to be furnished with such plans and particulars of the proposed operations as the Authority may consider necessary; and on receipt of any such application the Authority may cause notice of the application, and of the time within which and the manner in which objections to the application may be made, to be published in such manner as the Authority may consider appropriate for informing persons affected thereby, and, before granting its consent may, if the Authority thinks fit, direct an inquiry to be held.

If the Authority is of the opinion that any operation in respect of which an application is made under this section should not for any reason be carried out or should be carried out subject to such conditions as the Authority thinks necessary to impose, the Authority may either refuse its consent or give its consent subject to any conditions that the Authority thinks fit.

A consent of the Authority under this section may be given so as to continue in force, unless renewed, only if the operation for which the consent is given has begun or is completed within the period specified in the consent; and any renewal of such a consent may be limited in the like manner.

The restriction imposed by subsection (1) does not apply to the carrying out of any dredging operation or reclamation work authorised by the Government in accordance with the provisions of any written law.

Nothing in this section is deemed to be in derogation of any of the powers or rights of the Government in respect of the foreshore or territorial waters of Singapore.

Nothing in this section is deemed to confer upon the Authority any power or right in respect of the foreshore not vested in the Authority.

Any person who —

Without prejudice to any proceedings under subsection (8), where any person has constructed, altered or improved any work or deposited any object or material on a river, waterway or the seashore in contravention of subsection (1) or has failed to comply with any condition subject to which any consent of the Authority has been given under this section, the Authority may serve a notice on that person requiring the person to remove, within a period (not being less than 30 days) specified in the notice, the object or material (as the case may be) or, if it appears to the Authority necessary to do so, the Authority may itself remove or alter the work or remove the object or material.

If within the period specified in any notice under subsection (9) the person upon whom the notice is served fails to comply with it, the Authority may remove or alter the work or remove the object or material as specified in the notice.

Where under subsection (9) or (10) the Authority removes or alters any work or removes any object or material, the Authority is entitled to recover the expense thereof as certified by the Authority, from the person by whom or for whom the work was constructed, altered or improved, or the object or material was deposited.

In this section —

“seashore” includes the seabed under the territorial waters of Singapore;

“work” includes any architectural or engineering operation.