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[SINGAPORE] About 193 hectares of land will be reclaimed off Changi to develop an aviation park, with adjustments made to protect one of Singapore’s largest seagrass meadows, The Straits Times has learnt.

The 20 million sq ft of land 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 Housing & Development Board (HDB) told ST on Jul 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 the 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 were done between April 2022 and May 2023.

The report, which found a seagrass meadow and coral in the project site, has been available for people to view, in person, since May 9, but a non-disclosure agreement has to be signed.

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.

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 a fifth, or 45 ha.

This adjustment will benefit a seagrass area of about 34 ha, the size of roughly eight Padang fields. It mainly composes spoon seagrass (Halophila 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 on 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 the Chek Jawa Wetlands on Pulau Ubin 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, the coral within an existing reclaimed area called Changi Finger and its extension will lose some of its 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.

The coral within the project’s footprint and a surrounding buffer area will be transplanted elsewhere before development works begin.

Which corals to transplant, and the sites they can be moved 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 impact on 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 the 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, conditions for marine-based recreation activities for visitors to Changi Beach Park are expected to become safer because the revised coastal features will make for calmer water conditions, 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 their impact, some of which could still be unknown.

Conservation biologist Debby Ng described the seagrass off Changi Beach Park as “the lushest seagrass meadow” she has studied in recent years, citing its healthy tracts of Halophila spinulosa, a fern-like seagrass at risk of extinction in Singapore.

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 at 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 sediment to the marine environment farther south.”

He noted that changes to hydrodynamic conditions in Singapore’s waters can affect where sediment is eroded and deposited. These processes could, for example, accelerate erosion and harm coastal vegetation in some places.

Sediment can also smother organisms living in the intertidal zone in other areas.

In the long term, the narrowing of the channel could also affect coral as distant as those in 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 higher 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.

Cyclists and hikers using 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 later.

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 22.6 ha to maximise the distance between the reclaimed land and Mandai Mangrove and Mudflat Nature Park.

The reclamation project off Changi North, including the reclamation of about 900 ha off Changi Bay, is one of several to create more land in the eastern end of Singapore. THE STRAITS TIMES