 In 2015 the New Zealand Government funded a project to fill the borrow pits, with 365,000 sqm of sand dredged from the lagoon.This project increase the usable land space on Fongafale by eight per cent.A detachment of the 2nd Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) built a sea plane ramp on the lagoon side of Fongafale islet for seaplane operations by both short and long range seaplanes and a compacted coral runway was constructed on Fongafale, which was 5,000 feet long and 250 feet wide and was then extended to 6,600 feet long and 600 feet wide.