Need for third bridge between Johor and Singapore to ease congestion - Muhyiddin

ISKANDAR PUTERI, Nov 25 -- The construction of a third bridge linking Johor and Singapore is a long-term measure to tackle congestion at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI)   Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex and Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ complex. 

Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Gambir state assemblyman, said he had already informed the federal government about the need for the construction of the bridge.

“If the state government supports I will ensure this initiative (the construction of a third bridge) will be started,” he said during a debate at the Johor state assembly sitting here today.

Muhyiddin, who is also the chairman of the Special Committee on Congestion at the Johor Causeway said preliminary studies have already been conducted to indicate there is a need to build a third bridge linking Johor and Singapore. 

The Johor Pakatan Harapan president said third link between Johor and Singapore does not necessarily have to be a bridge but instead can also be in the form of a tunnel in the Straits of Tebrau.

“Before we used to have only one bridge (Johor–Singapore Causeway), then we had two bridges (Johor Causeway and Malaysia-Singapore Second Link) and now these two can no longer cope (with the congestion),” he said.

Meanwhile, state Public Works, Transport and Infrastructure Committee chairman Mohd Solihan Badri, told reporters outside the state assembly hall that Muhyiddin's third bridge proposal was an appropriate step.

He said the CIQ complex in BSI built in 2003 will reach its full capacity next year where the expansion of the area would not be much help to alleviate congestion at the Johor Causeway.

-- BERNAMA