Mahathir: We should restart the crooked bridge project

The crooked bridge was ridiculed by S'pore

KUALA LUMPUR - Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that Malaysia should restart the project to build a bridge across the Tebrau Straits.

But he was not clear on whether the bridge should be like the scenic or crooked bridge he planned to replace the Johor side of the causeway.

Replacing the bridge all the way to Singapore would require the agreement of that country, which he tried to get when he was prime minister.

“But two years without a response showed that they were not interested,” Mahathir said today.

“I therefore planned with the architects to build the bridge on the Malaysian side without involving Singapore and they did not object,” he told reporters after receiving RM7,000 from the Kepong Muslim Youth Organisation in Kuala Lumpur to help Palestinians in Gaza.

He was commenting on a call by Sultan Ibrahim of Johor for a bridge to replace the causeway.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had said a study would have to be carried out first and the legal implications would have to be considered along with the position of the Singapore government.

Mahathir said the late Sultan Iskandar, father of the present Ruler, was prepared to give his land to promote the bridge.

He had also met Sultan Ibrahim who told him how much he wanted a bridge linking Johor and Singapore to replace the causeway.

- Bernama