SINGAPORE — A new air base and a fourth runway will be built at Changi East, with the Paya Lebar Air Base to be moved to Changi later on, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his National Day Rally speech.

The move will not only free up a large 800 hectare area in Paya Lebar — an area bigger than Bishan or Ang Mo Kio — for new homes, offices, factories and parks, it will also remove height restrictions on a large area around Paya Lebar.

This would free up land to “develop new, exciting plans for the big chunk of eastern Singapore going down to Marina and Marina South”, Mr Lee said, adding that the full changes will take place 20, 30 years later. “The potential is there, we can dream,” he said.

Opened on Aug 20, 1955, to replace the old Kallang Airport, the Paya Lebar Airport became a base of the Republic of Singapore Air Force when Changi Airport opened in 1981. Besides being a venue for previous RSAF Open Houses, the air base also houses the Air Force Museum.

The plans are on top of earlier announcements to consolidate all port operations in Singapore that are currently spread across Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani and Pasir Panjang to Tuas, which will also free up space for developments, Mr Lee noted.

These port leases will end from 2027 onwards. The new port will be “bigger and more efficient, almost double the present capacity and then ... make sure business stays here,” the Prime Minister said.

With the prime land in Tanjong Pagar freed up, Singapore can then build a new Southern Waterfront City, the size of 1,000 hectares or 2.5 Marina Bays, stretching “all the way from Shenton Way to Pasir Panjang, from the east all the way to the west.”

In sketching out these possibilities, the Prime Minister said the ambitious, long-term plans reflect “our fundamental mindset and spirit — to be confident, to look ahead, to aim high”.

“If we can carry off these plans, we will not have to worry about running out of space or possibilities for Singapore. We are not at the limits. The sky is the limit,” Mr Lee said.

“We are creating possibilities for the future. We are opening up opportunities for our children, for their children to continue to build, to upgrade, to reinvent our city for many more years to come,” he added.

While very few countries or cities anywhere in the world can think or plan over such a long term, Mr Lee noted that “this is how we got here, and this is what we must do to be here tomorrow, next year and for many more years to come.”