Singapore studying plans to link Pulau Tekong to mainland via undersea tunnels

SINGAPORE: Studies are under way to see if it is feasible to build undersea tunnels linking the mainland to Pulau Tekong, and make it easier for people to reach Singapore’s largest offshore island.

More reclamation works at the southern end of Pulau Tekong are also in the pipeline, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 23).

That will create more training space for the Singapore Armed Forces and leave another 500ha of land – about the size of Toa Payoh – for civilian use, he added.

The proposed tunnels are a “major engineering undertaking”, and are among several decades-long projects that will give future Singaporeans more space, more opportunities and even greater possibilities than what the country has today, he said.

PM Wong added that Pulau Tekong – unlike other outer islands such as Jurong Island – has no land link to the mainland.

“The obvious solution is to build bridges, but that would cut across busy shipping channels. So, if we can’t go over the sea, we will try to go under it,” he said.

An artist’s impression of the proposed undersea tunnels linking Pulau Tekong to mainland Singapore. - URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY — An artist’s impression of the proposed undersea tunnels linking Pulau Tekong to mainland Singapore. – URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

He added that Singapore has experience building underground road tunnels but it has never built undersea tunnels of this scale.

Pulau Tekong was once two islands called Tekong Besar and Tekong Kechil. Land has been reclaimed around Tekong Besar, and a polder near Tekong Kechil has been completed, PM Wong said.

And there is more reclamation to come, he said, as he outlined plans for the southern end of Pulau Tekong.

As for the 500ha of land kept aside for future civilian uses, PM Wong said: “We have not decided what to use this land for, and we don’t have to decide now.

“What matters is that we have the space, and that gives us valuable options for the future.”

If Singapore goes ahead and builds the undersea tunnels, it will bring the outer islands much closer to the rest of the country, he added.

PM Wong said soldiers in the past had to rely on Ramp Powered Launches to travel to the island for military training, before air-conditioned ferries were used instead.

“One day, our recruits may have an even easier journey to Tekong,” he added.

He also spoke about the Long Island project, which involves reclaiming land tracts that will create about 800ha of land off the East Coast.

PM Wong – who grew up in Marine Parade – said his parents would often tell him that much of the land in the area used to be sea.

“In fact, my grandfather made a living in those very waters – as a fisherman off Kampong Amber.”

In the past, some people used to be worried that homes built on reclaimed land would sink, but these homes have today become prized because it’s difficult to find Housing Board flats so close to the sea, he said.

“One day, Long Island will become another new waterfront for future generations. They will live there, raise their families there, and perhaps tell their own children that this, too, was once part of the sea,” he added.

PM Wong said projects like the undersea tunnels to Tekong, Long Island and merging western offshore islands such as Semakau, Bukom and Sudong to support a new generation of industries will take decades to complete.

“They will require resources, planning, and investment over many terms of government. That’s what long-term planning is about,” he said.

Plans for a vehicular connection between mainland Singapore and Pulau Tekong have been considered for at least three decades, since Concept Plan 1991.

Two types of connections between the mainland and Pulau Tekong were mooted – a vehicular link that would begin near Tanah Merah Coast Road, and an MRT route that would run through land to the east of Singapore that had yet to be reclaimed, before passing by the Johor Strait and arriving at Pulau Tekong.

The idea was for these two connections to link Pulau Tekong to Pulau Ubin, and for Pulau Ubin to be connected back to the mainland at Punggol and Lorong Halus. – The Straits Times/ANN

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