A huge plot of land next to Changi Airport will become a massive construction zone when major tunnelling works start next year and the construction of a new passenger terminal begins around 2020.

When construction peaks, about 20,000 workers, up from just 3,000 now, are expected to be based at the Changi East site.

Given the scale of the project, Changi Airport Group (CAG) has launched several initiatives to ensure the safety of workers and the security of the premises.

This is critical to ensure that there are no disruptions to flight operations at the airport, said Mr Marken Ang, CAG's assistant general manager, Changi East Safety, during a media briefing on Tuesday.

Among the new measures being introduced was the opening last month of a checkpoint at the worksite to monitor human and vehicle movement in and out of the premises, he said.

The facility can currently handle up to 500 vehicles and 8,000 people an hour.

Workers entering the airfield are issued a transponder daily, which they must return when they leave the area. Virtual fences are pre-programmed into a system. Should a worker cross the fence into the restricted area, an alarm will be triggered.

The works are monitored from a command centre, which gets information through a network of surveillance cameras and live feed from ground supervisors.

Mr Ang said: "We have to be careful because the workers and vehicles are working close to the airfield... By using technology, for example, geo-fencing and electronic tracking, we are able to track exactly where the workers are, on a digital map. This allows us to deter incursions into the airfield area."

The Changi East project is Singapore's most ambitious attempt, since Changi Airport opened on July 1, 1981, to cement Singapore's status as a key aviation hub for regional and global traffic.

By the time construction and other works are completed around 2030, Changi Airport will have almost doubled in size to cover more than 2,000ha.

The project involves the construction of Terminal 5, which will have an initial capacity of up to 50 million passengers a year - more than twice the size of any of the other three main terminals.

The Changi East development is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars and will prepare Changi Airport, which handled a record number of 62.2 million passengers last year, for the coming decades.

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