Singapore Land Authority (SLA), National Heritage Board (NHB) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) are investigating the ‘only known surviving pre-World War II or wartime underground fuel storage tank in Singapore and the region’, with the SLA calling tender, which closed on 27 October 2026, to study the site. The SLA-commissioned study should be completed by the first half of 2028.
John Kwok, a historian at consultancy Total Heritage, says that while the Marsiling Tunnels, housing the storage tanks, were discovered by the Singapore Paranormal Investigator in 2006, the team ‘could not ascertain what the structures were.’ Kwok’s research has found that the facility was completed in February 1942, with contemporary reports describing five large underground tanks with a total capacity of around 4,180 tonnes.
The SLA, NHB and URA says there are ‘no firm plans’ for the site at this point, adding: ‘The appointed consultant’s investigations include heritage and archaeological surveys, geophysical surveys, environmental site assessment, structural integrity inspections, unexploded ordnance surveys and other testing works… Where necessary, agencies will also undertake environmental consultations and studies as part of future planning for the site.’
