193ha of land off Changi to be reclaimed for aviation park; area reduced to save seagrass meadow
A section of the estimated 193ha of land off Changi, which will be reclaimed for the development of the aviation park.
Ang Qing Straits Times Updated Jul 03, 2025, 10:58 PM
SINGAPORE - About 193ha of land off Changi will be reclaimed to develop an aviation park, with adjustments made to protect one of Singapore’s largest seagrass meadows, The Straits Times has learnt.
The reclaimed area between Changi Beach Park and Aviation Park Staging Ground near Changi Bay will be almost twice the size of Gardens by the Bay.
The reclaimed area will be used “to support Singapore’s future economic growth and to meet long-term industrial land use needs”, the HDB told ST on July 1.
No timeline was given for the reclamation. HDB is the agent appointed by the Ministry of National Development to carry out land reclamation works.
The Government had previously announced plans for a second airport logistics park from 2030 to raise the capacity of Changi Aviation Park and boost Changi Airport’s role as a regional air cargo hub.
An airport logistics park is a zone near an airport that optimises the flow of air cargo and reduces the cost and transit time for processing goods.
HDB had commissioned an environmental impact assessment to determine the potential impact of the works on coral and seagrass within the project footprint, and the biodiversity that thrives in these habitats.
Surveys to understand human, wildlife and coastal ecosystems near and within the project took place from April 2022 to May 2023.
The report, which found a seagrass meadow and corals in the project site, has been available for people to view in-person since May 9 upon signing of a non-disclosure agreement.
HDB said the footprint of the project will be reduced to limit damage to a seagrass meadow off Changi Beach Park, which experts have said is one of Singapore’s largest.
The HDB said the area to be reclaimed was larger under the latest Long-Term Plan, which charts Singapore’s growth for the next five decades and beyond.
But it was cut by nearly one-fifth, or 45ha.
This adjustment will benefit a seagrass area of about 34ha, the size of roughly eight Padang fields. It is mainly composed of spoon seagrass (Halophilia ovalis) and the locally vulnerable needle seagrass (Halodule uninervis), noted HDB.
Seagrasses are natural sponges for planet-warming carbon dioxide, but their survival in Singapore has been threatened by coastal development and large amounts of sediment in the city-state’s waters.
HDB said that after consulting other agencies, it decided to create an inlet at the northern end of the reclamation site to preserve existing seagrass habitats and allow for their natural expansion.
The inlet is expected to create a sheltering effect, said the report.
It can dull the force of waves, trap fragments of the aquatic plants and promote seagrass growth during the north-east monsoon, when the sea is especially turbulent.
Still, seagrasses off the north of Changi Beach Park, Changi Golf Club and Chek Jawa Wetlands are expected to suffer from a “slight negative impact”, even if measures to blunt the reclamation’s impact are adopted.
This is due to their sensitivity to large quantities of suspended sediment in water, which can prevent light from reaching seagrass, hindering their growth.
The report said that without any intervention, corals within an existing reclaimed area called Changi Finger and its extension will lose some of their habitat.
They will also be vulnerable to suspended sediment as well as the risk of oil spills and leaks.
HDB said it will actively monitor and manage such impacts during construction works.
Corals within the project’s footprint and a surrounding buffer area will be transplanted elsewhere before development works begin.
Which corals to transplant, and suitable sites where they can be transferred to, will be studied, HDB added.
It also plans to use blocks and a gentler gradient for seawalls, which can promote a diverse range of habitats.
Before construction begins, an emergency response plan will be implemented to minimise the risk of impacts to sensitive marine habitats surrounding the reclamation area.
This plan will also account for potential pollution from vessels involved in the reclamation, HDB added.
The report concluded that the revised reclamation area will not significantly change hydrodynamic conditions in the vicinity.
There will be a slight increase in current speed in the navigation channel, and a reduction of current speeds in the inlet and along the slope of the reclamation area.
Once reclamation is completed, it is also expected to result in safer conditions for marine-based recreation activities for visitors to Changi Beach Park due to calmer water conditions arising from the revised coastal features, it added.
Researchers lauded plans by the Government to minimise the impacts of the reclamation.
But they called for careful implementation of measures to reduce the project’s effects as well as sustained monitoring of its impacts, some of which could still be unknown.
Conservation biologist Debby Ng described the seagrass off Changi Beach Park as “the lushest seagrass meadow she had studied in recent years”, citing its healthy tracts of Halophila spinulosa, a fern-like seagrass that is at risk of extinction in Singapore.
The seagrass meadow off Changi Beach park was one of eight sites in Singapore that Debby Ng studied during her PhD at NUS.
The doctoral candidate at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions said sediment plumes stirred up by machinery during the reclamation process could smother or bury seagrass adjacent to the project unless care is taken to prevent this.
She added: “The field of Halophila spinulosa glistening at sunset during a low tide was one of the most beautiful natural sights I have seen along Singapore’s coastline, and I hope future generations get to appreciate it too.
“It would be a sad loss to our natural heritage if we lose them.”
Research assistant professor Stephen Chua, who studies sediment and sea levels, said the reclamation will almost halve the width of the channel between mainland Singapore and its offshore islands.
Dr Chua, a principal investigator at NTU’s Earth Observatory of Singapore, said: “This could lead to increased circulation and flow speeds, which could introduce more sediments to the marine environment farther south.”
He noted that changes to hydrodynamic conditions in Singapore’s waters can affect where sediments are eroded and deposited.
These can have negative impacts like harming coastal vegetation in some places through accelerated erosion.
Sediment can also smother organisms living in the intertidal zone in other areas.
In the long term, the narrowing of the channel could potentially affect corals as distant as the Southern Islands over time, given the dominant east-west currents in the Singapore Strait, he added. This refers to the body of water south of the mainland.
The impact of the inlet on the hydrodynamics in the reclamation area should also be monitored.
This is because narrow and straight channels generally have faster velocities that could result in coarser material deposited in the inlet, which might not be optimal for seagrass growth.
HDB said it will consider public feedback before seeking final approval from the Government.
Visitors to the Round Island Route in Changi Beach Park and Changi Bay Park Connector are expected to be affected by dust and noise from construction “over an extensive period”, which was among impacts anticipated by the report.
Plans for the Round Island Route after the completion of construction works are still being studied and will be confirmed subsequently.
The effort to balance protection of the environment against development needs continues previous efforts to revise reclamation plans.
In March 2024, for instance, JTC Corporation and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority reduced a planned reclamation area by about 22.6ha to maximise the distance between the reclaimed land and Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat nature park.
The reclamation project off Changi North is one of several to create more land in the eastern end of Singapore, including the reclamation of about 900ha off Changi Bay.
