How Singapore Grew 28% Larger by Importing Neighbours' Sand

Singapore has expanded its land area by roughly 28 percent since 1965, growing from 581.5 square kilometres to 744.3 square kilometres largely through land reclamation using imported sand.

Over two decades, Singapore imported an estimated 517 million tonnes of sand, making it for years the largest sand importer in the world. Land reclamation involves placing large volumes of fill material, typically sand, into shallow water until new ground forms above the waterline.

For a nation with little spare land, the approach addressed a genuine constraint. More reclaimed land meant more space for housing, industry and port infrastructure. But the sand itself came largely from dredging operations in neighbouring countries' rivers, coasts and seabeds.

Indonesia's Riau Province recorded some of the clearest environmental consequences. Unchecked sea-sand extraction there destroyed 26 sand islands, according to research from the University of Queensland, while mining in Banten eroded shorelines and damaged coral reefs. More than 50 million tonnes of sand a year moved to Singapore from the region before restrictions took hold.

The world consumes around 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel annually, a volume the United Nations Environment Programme has argued should be managed as a strategic resource rather than treated as an unlimited commodity.

Export restrictions followed in stages across the region. Malaysia imposed its first sand-export ban in 1997, Indonesia restricted exports during the 2000s, and Vietnam introduced restrictions in 2009. Cambodia made its ban on coastal sand exports permanent in 2017, and Malaysia added a further sea-sand export ban in October 2018.

Politics complicated the environmental picture, particularly in Cambodia's case. In 2017, Cambodian officials reported roughly 16 million tonnes of sand exported to Singapore since 2007, while United Nations trade data for the same period showed more than 72 million tonnes, a discrepancy that fuelled distrust around the trade.

Singapore did not halt reclamation as suppliers tightened restrictions. It diversified its sand sources and adopted methods requiring less material, most visibly the Dutch-style polder technique used at Pulau Tekong, where dikes enclose and drain land rather than building it up entirely with fill.

The regional picture has continued shifting. Indonesia moved to lift its long-standing export ban in 2023 and adopted trade rules in 2024 permitting sea-sand exports once domestic needs are satisfied.

Last month, the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia alleged that Cambodian sea sand had resumed flowing toward Singapore, publishing footage of dredging activity in Koh Kong alongside tracked cargo vessel movements. United Nations Comtrade data cited alongside those allegations show Cambodia exported 128 million tonnes of sand worth $755 million between 2017 and 2025, though those figures span multiple export destinations rather than Singapore alone.

Whether current trade fully complies with existing restrictions remains an open and contested question among researchers, campaigners and regional governments.