CNA Explains: Why does Singapore want to build a 'Long Island'?

Source: CNA

SINGAPORE: Singapore announced on Tuesday (Nov 28) potential plans for a project on its east coast which would reclaim around 800ha of land - the size of over 1,000 football fields.

Technical studies into this "Long Island" will start from 2024 and be carried out over the next few years.

Twice the size of the downtown Marina Bay area, Long Island could take the form of tracts of land a distance away from the East Coast shoreline, but extending from Marina East to Tanah Merah.

This would create an enclosed waterbody - eventually, a freshwater reservoir - in front of East Coast Park.

Long Island would add around 20km of new coastal and reservoir parks.

It was first mooted under the 1991 Concept Plan, Singapore's second strategic land use and transportation plan.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned Long Island during his National Day Rally in 2019, and it was showcased at an exhibition by the Urban Redevelopment Authority last year.