Plan to reclaim island can be updated to also mitigate sea-level rise

An artist’s impression of potential future reclamation along East Coast that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong presented in August 2019. He noted then that engineering drawings had not been done yet.

- Ng Keng Gene

A plan more than three decades ago envisioning a reclaimed island along the length of East Coast for beachfront housing and leisure may morph into one that also takes on the task of protecting Singapore from rising sea levels.

Under the plan, the “Long Island” would stretch from Marina East to Changi. A book documenting Singapore’s 1991 Concept Plan said of the Long Island: “It will become not only a leisure centre by the sea but also a choice location for some housing development.”

The country’s concept plans, meant to guide development for the next 50 years, are reviewed once a decade. A review is ongoing, with plans slated for exhibition in the middle of this year.