Forest City reclamation seen from Singapore's last western reefs at Tuas

Here's what I saw of the Forest City reclamation during our survey of Tuas Merawang Beacon yesterday.

The massive works don't seem very far away.


Just off the Tuas Merawang Beacon (the green structure with the pointy 'hat'), we could see large vessels and excavators working on large piles of sand.

There doesn't appear to be a seawall being built first to keep the sand in. Is the sand simply dumped into the sea? There seems to be a silt barrier.

To the west, on the horizon, another pile of sand.

There are several large barges nearby. Possibly bringing sand in for the reclamation.

The reclamation is just opposite the container terminal at Johor.

High res versions of these photos are on wildsingapore flickr.

What's going on?

If what we are seeing is Phase 1, then Phase 3 and 4 will be even closer to Tuas.

Here's some graphics of the Forest City reclamation from recent media articles.

From Straits Times, 19 Mar 15

From The Malaysian Insider, on Today Online 19 Mar 15.

Here's the latest media articles about the Forest City reclamation.

Any impacts from the Forest City reclamation?

On 14 Mar, there was an MPA Notice that silt curtains will be installed at the Tuas Spring Desalination Plant and sea water intake nearby. Any link to the reclamation?

Tuas Spring Desalination Plant facing the sea.
Photo from the PUB Annual Report 2013

Two days ago, a dead sea turtle was spotted at Tuas near the second link. Thanks to Lee Zhang Er who shared that "A huge turtle was spotted today along the coast near Tuas checkpoint. No other dead fishes were spotted along side it." at about 12.30pm today (17 Mar).

Unfortunately, I have no updates on this important sighting.

Tuas Merawang Beacon is our last natural western reefs that escaped the first reclamation at Tuas. The distant island on the left of the photo is Pulau Merambong which is part of Malaysia and has some awesome marine life.

Here's more about the amazing marinelife we have at Tuas Merawang Beacon.

Related links

Media articles about Forest City and other reclamation work in the Johor Strait.