Pulau Tekong
Pulau Tekong is the largest of Singapore's outlying islands with an area of 24.43 km2, and the island is still expanding due to land reclamation works on its southern and northwestern coasts which will eventually subsume many of its surrounding small islets, including Pulau Tekong Kechil.
Pulau Tekong is found off Singapore's northeastern coast, east of Pulau Ubin. Geographically, it is nearer to Johor, Malaysia than the Singapore main island itself. The Pulau Tekong Reservoir is also on the island.
SAF use
Today, Pulau Tekong is used exclusively as a training base for various Singapore Army Units. Home to the Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC), this is also where young Singaporean males are conscripted into National Service. The School of Infantry Specialists (SISPEC), which was situated Rocky Hill Camp, relocated to a new campus at Pasir Laba Camp in December 2005. A new training area, called Sanyongkong Field Camp, has been completed on the reclaimed land south of Dogra Bridge. Built by the Combat Engineers, this field camp will be used to train battalions of the Infantry and Guards. It also provides habitat to some wild animals that are rarely seen in main island Singapore such as the leopard cat, Sunda slow loris and the Sunda pangolin. The extended Pulau Tekong will massively replace all training grounds on main island Singapore, like Mandai, Marsiling, Seletar, Nee Soon, Lower Seletar, Upper Thomson and Simpang.
Coastal Protection
The National Biodiversity Centre and National Parks Board (NParks) will be conducting coastal protection and restoration works at the north-eastern coastline of Pulau Tekong which suffers from coastal erosion. The National Biodiversity Centre stated that the erosion resulted from the movements of ships and strong waves in the area. A study NParks commissioned in 2006 found that 1.65 km of the north-eastern shore is most severely affected. The coastal erosion poses a threat to the 92 ha of mangroves in Pulau Tekong which is one of the largest remaining mangrove areas in Singapore with a mature and undisturbed habitat.[6] Ecologists point out that the island is extremely rich in biodiversity and resident to some rare or endangered species.