Impact of Cessation of Sand Import from Cambodia

Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for National Development (a) what is the impact of Cambodia's decision to cease the export of sand to Singapore; (b) what is the number of countries that continue to export sand to Singapore for reclamation purposes; and (c) what is the volume of sand imported into Singapore for reclamation, construction and any other purpose from every source country since 2007.

We have measures in place to ensure that Singapore is sufficiently prepared for disruption to our sand imports.

First, Singapore imports sand on a commercial basis from a diverse range of countries, to ensure resilience in our sand supply. And we will continue to encourage industry players to procure sand from alternative sources.

Second, we have also been encouraging the industry to reduce the reliance on sand. For construction, the industry is adopting more sustainable construction methods like using structural steel and mass engineered timber. We have also been recycling excavated materials from the construction industry to replace a proportion of sand in some reclamation projects. Most recently, we piloted a polder development in Pulau Tekong, which reduces the volume of sand needed as compared to traditional reclamation. The Government will continue to work with industry players to explore new and innovative means to reduce our reliance on sand.

As for the Member's query on our sand import volumes, such figures vary from year to year, depending on projects and availability. In 2016, we imported 35 million tonnes of sand. These figures are publicly available, similar to other traded commodities.