Singapore Plans Massive Land Reclamation Projects
Singapore is recorded as the country with the highest proportion of reclaimed land in the world, where man-made land already accounts for more than a quarter of its total 744 square kilometres. According to Channel News Asia on Thursday (03/09/2026), this proportion is projected to swell soon due to plans for massive reclamation works in the future.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, during the 2026 National Day Rally, announced that Singapore is seriously considering merging several islands south of Jurong Island into a much larger western island in the coming decades. Additionally, preparatory work for a giant coastal protection project titled ‘Long Island’ is scheduled to begin in late 2026, serving as the foundation for an 800-hectare project that will span several decades.
However, experts are beginning to warn that conventional land reclamation methods, such as infilling, are now being hindered by skyrocketing costs and increasingly limited supplies of fill material. Furthermore, concerns regarding fatal environmental impacts continue to loom. Professor Chu Jian, Head of Civil Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), detailed Singapore’s reclamation journey.
“For land reclamation in recent years, we no longer have hills to quarry, so we have begun importing sand,” he stated.
Given the limited availability of imported sand, Singapore has been forced to switch to using marine clay from seawall construction and excavated material from MRT and high-rise building construction. Professor Chu emphasised that sand remains the most ideal material.
“Ideally, sand should be used because it is easy to handle and less compressible. If you use clay, it will be very difficult to process… and the cost of remediation will also be higher,” he explained.
The challenge of obtaining sufficient fill material is further complicated by the need for much larger volumes, as Singapore must now reclaim increasingly deeper sea areas. David Ng from the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) estimates that every one hectare of sea with a depth of approximately 10 metres requires about 100,000 cubic metres of fill material.
Assuming an average seabed depth of 20 metres, the 800-hectare Long Island project is estimated to require at least 160 million cubic metres of infill material, roughly equivalent to the volume of 64,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
To tackle this material crisis, Singapore began a shift last September by reclaiming 800 hectares of land on Pulau Tekong using the polder method. This revolutionary method has proven successful in reducing sand usage by almost half, although it incurs much higher maintenance costs.
Associate Professor Edward Park, a lead investigator at the Earth Observatory of Singapore, stated that using recycled materials such as excavated soil or processed marine clay as a substitute for sand is an excellent sustainability initiative. However, the volumes produced are often only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of cubic metres required.
“They often cannot meet large-scale demand,” he asserted.
Park also added that producing manufactured sand from crushed rock on a reclamation scale is highly energy-intensive and expensive, meaning natural sand is expected to continue dominating demand in the future. For the Long Island project, engineers will likely adopt a hybrid polder system, using protective boundary embankments and drainage networks to create land below sea level to drastically reduce the required volume of infill.
Meanwhile, the plan to merge islands in the western region, if approved, will likely follow the Jurong Island blueprint by constructing heavy retaining embankments and infilling the surrounding shallow waters.
On the other hand, environmental experts have long warned that massive reclamation projects will permanently destroy ecosystems. Responding to these concerns, Singapore’s Ministry of National Development has ensured that in-depth technical studies and environmental assessments will be conducted to guide all development plans. Ng from the IES also emphasised the importance of a sustainable approach.
“For these upcoming land reclamation projects, it is crucial to study and explore the use of more sustainable design and construction methods and materials to minimise the impact on the surrounding marine and coastal environments,” he concluded.