EPU asked to respond on Labuan-Sabah bridge

Labuan deserves to have a big development project and the bridge link with Sabah can connect with the ongoing Pan Borneo Highway project.

KOTA KINABALU: The Labuan Consumer Council (LCC) wants the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) to respond to a proposal by former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh to link the island and the mainland by a 13 km bridge. “If there’s something not quite right with Harris’ proposal, made some three years, the EPU should respond and not just keep quiet.”

“The bridge between Labuan and Menumbuk was first mooted 31 years ago in the Labuan Master Development Plan.”

LCC Chairman Fauziah Din assured that the proposed bridge project mooted by Harris has the support of the Labuan Corporation (LC), the majority of the islanders and political parties. “There should be transparency on the matter.”

Fauziah was commenting on the renewed call by the former Sabah Chief Minister recently that the government should allow the bridge project to go ahead. “Labuan should be developing like the other two Federal Territories i.e. Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Labuan is no longer the responsibility of the Sabah Government.”

“The government was shying away from the project, claiming that the construction costs would be too high,” noted Fauziah. “In that case, they should consider the proposal by Harris who has linked up with an interested party in China.”

“If the terms are too stiff, the EPU can ask that they be re-negotiated.”

Harris’ proposal, she added, should be considered an opportunity to make the bridge project a reality. “If the government can’t do it, they should allow others who can do it to go ahead.”

“It can’t stop others from building the bridge and at the same time refuse to carry out the project as promised numerous times.”

Fauziah remind the EPU that Harris was no ordinary person but a former Chief Minister of Sabah and the man responsible for turning the island into a Federal Territory. “He feels responsible for the island after having turned it over to the Federal Government. He was expecting even more development for the island, including the bridge linking it with the mainland. But it appears that even this can’t be built.”

“Labuan deserves to have a big development project and the bridge link with Sabah would go nicely with the ongoing Pan Borneo Highway project.”

It appears that Harris is not the only one to have proposed the bridge link. Another proposal, similar to that by the former Sabah Chief Minister, was made by Yayasan Pendidikan Labuan (YPL) headed by Labuan MP Rozman Ali. YPL comes under the Federal Territory Ministry. The EPU has yet to respond to YPL.

Under Harris’ plan, a joint-venture company called Shandung Liang Gaya Sdn Bhd wants 8,500 acres of sea land for reclamation works. The land would be along the east of Labuan and the west of coast of Menumbuk. The company plans to use the reclaimed land to finance the building of the bridge.