Labuan to Sabah bridge soon?

A joint-study by three local universities has proposed a shorter coastal bridge to connect Labuan and Sabah

LABUAN: A coastal bridge is possibly an alternative to the high cost incurred in building an early plan main bridge linking Labuan to the mainland of Sabah.

The bridge being proposed is from Tanjung Aru in Labuan to Mempakul in Sabah. It would span six kilometres as compared to the original 11.3km proposed.

The original bridge was to have stretched from Labuan to Menumbok jetty in Sabah.

Earlier today Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the project would not cost the federal or state governments.

“It will be built on private initiative funding. Except for granting a long contract tenure to the investor to recover cost there will be no allocations from the government, “ he said.

If this materialises, Labuan will have another alternative town or ‘satelite town’ at the outskirts of town, and this is part of the solution to ease traffic congestion.

“Of course, there will be economic spin-off within the surrounding area, and this is what we are looking at,” he said.

Tengku Adan said a team of experts from Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak jointly conducted a 11-month feasibility study which was submitted to the Federal Government last year.

The study had recommended that the best route for the bridge would be from Tanjung Aru in Labuan to Mempakul. The stretch is expected to cost between RM3 billion to RM6 billion.

According to Tengku Adnan the route will not disrupt shipping lanes and the ferry service from Menumbok to Labuan.

As a follow through to the proposed brudge, the governemnt is also expected to upgrade roads in Labuan to accomodate increased traffic volume.

The experts also stated another alternative route of 9.3km from Pulau Daat to Labuan.

The proposed project, however, elicited mixed reaction from the public and business communities, saying the creation of the bridge would result in the island losing its duty-free status.

Others have described the idea as timely as the island lagged behind, in terms of economic development.