Board Game Arena

In my game there are points for every full row or column. Does anyone know we can complete the middle rows/colums where there is an abyss in the middle of the map?

These are wasteland spaces, that are counted already as filled spaces like mountains.

Worth noting that although they count as filled spaces, they do not count as a terrain type for the goal which requires red cities to border three other colors. For the purposes of that goal, bordering a wasteland is like bordering the edge of the map.