\nAn artist\u2019s impression of recruits travelling between Singapore and Pulau Tekong via an undersea tunnel.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
He also spoke about the Long Island project, which involves reclaiming land tracts that will create about 800ha of land off the East Coast.<\/p>\n
PM Wong \u2013 who grew up in Marine Parade \u2013 said his parents would often tell him that much of the land in the area used to be sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, my grandfather made a living in those very waters \u2013 as a fisherman off Kampong Amber.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s difficult to find Housing Board flats so close to the sea, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne 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,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\nAn artist\u2019s impression of new waterfront homes on Long Island.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will require resources, planning, and investment over many terms of government. That\u2019s what long-term planning is about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Plans for a vehicular connection between mainland Singapore and Pulau Tekong have been considered for at least three decades, since Concept Plan 1991.<\/p>\n
Two types of connections between the mainland and Pulau Tekong were mooted \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n