Baey Yam Keng on meeting increased demand for after-death facilities

Annual deaths in Singapore are expected to increase from about 25,000 today to about 60,000 by the 2060s. The National Environment Agency (NEA) works closely with land use agencies to plan ahead for more after-death facilities, such as funeral parlours, wake halls and columbariums to ensure adequate capacity. Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng said this in reply to an MP's questions in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 6). He said with an increasingly ageing population, such facilities will be a more prevailing feature of the urban landscape. Singaporeans accept the need for such facilities which are developed in a way that is sensitive to and integrated with the surrounding community, he added. Most bereaved families will opt to cremate if the deceased’s religion does not require burial and will typically place cremated ashes in niches. To provide more options for the public, the Government will introduce more inland ash scattering (IAS), which requires less land and costs less. Mr Baey said demand for IAS has increased steadily from about 900 applications in 2021 to about 2,000 in 2023. An IAS facility is being constructed together with a new Mandai crematorium complex, which will make IAS more accessible when it opens in 2025. Mr Baey said families can also place the ashes of their departed loved ones at home or scatter them at sea. He said NEA will continue to study the methods of intensifying land use and design at future facilities to minimise the land required and optimise land usage.