The bridge Marang never asked for

 Construction has turned a once-peaceful coastal town into an extended worksite.

Marang is the parliamentary constituency of PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang. It is also the one district that should showcase the party’s promise of clean, efficient and people-centred governance, after nearly 10 years of PAS rule in Terengganu under Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.

Instead, visitors arriving in Marang are greeted by years of construction, traffic congestion, dusty roads and frustrated local residents asking a simple question: was all this really necessary?

One of the biggest infrastructure projects currently under way is the construction of a new bridge across Sungai Marang along Federal Route 3, the old single-lane road linking the East Coast from Johor to Kota Bharu.

Together with extensive road widening works and elevated approaches on both sides of the river, the project has been under construction for almost four years. Judging by the pace of work, it does not appear likely to be completed anytime soon.

Large infrastructure projects inevitably cause inconvenience. Most people understand that. But what they expect in return is a project that is properly planned, completed within a reasonable timeframe and capable of delivering clear long-term benefits.

Increasingly, many residents in Marang are questioning whether this project meets those expectations.

During my visit to Marang town and the jetty, where tourists board boats for river cruises and trips to Pulau Kapas, I spoke to numerous residents, boat operators and business owners. Although they came from different backgrounds, their frustrations were remarkably similar.

The elevated roads leading to the high bridge across Marang River, which nobody asked for.

No more roadside stalls

Construction has turned what was once a peaceful coastal town into an extended worksite. Roads have been narrowed by construction barriers, access routes have been closed for piling works, and traffic that once flowed smoothly now crawls through bottlenecks every day.

Business owners told me customers have become reluctant to visit because getting in and out of Marang has become unnecessarily difficult.

Dust from the construction has become a daily nuisance, while the prolonged disruption has affected livelihoods for years rather than months.

Hardly any roadside stalls remain that used to sell Terengganu delicacies such as nasi dagang, kerepok lekor or akok. The whole street is just too dusty.

Yet it was not the inconvenience that surprised me most. It was the number of people questioning the design of the bridge itself.

The new bridge is being built substantially higher (about 10m off the water level at high tides) than the existing road and bridge, requiring long elevated approaches stretching several kilometres on both sides of Sungai Marang.

To accommodate the new alignment, numerous private and commercial properties (houses, shops, offices and a petrol station) have been acquired and the landscape of the town has been dramatically altered.

A high bridge with no purpose

Many residents simply could not understand why such a design was necessary.

Standing beside his tourist boat at the Marang jetty, Zaidi, who has spent decades operating river cruises and ferrying visitors to Pulau Kapas, looked towards the towering bridge and shook his head.

“Why build such a high bridge?” he asked.

“There’s no need for it. Unlike Kuala Terengganu, there are no large ships coming up Sungai Marang. The river is shallow and only our local fishing and tourist boats use it. The current bridge is fit for purpose and has been more than enough.”

His argument is difficult to dismiss.

Zaidi was referring to the popular drawbridge in Kuala Terengganu, which was designed to accommodate marine vessels, whereas Sungai Marang has no requirement for such high navigational clearance.

The fishing harbour and the river mouth itself has a water depth of only about 3m to 4m during high tides, making it inaccessible to large vessels in the first place.

If there was no navigational requirement for such a high bridge, residents are entitled to ask why this design was chosen. Could a lower bridge have achieved exactly the same purpose with less land acquisition, less disruption and at a lower cost to taxpayers?

At the Marang market, another resident who requested anonymity questioned the government’s priorities.

“If they really wanted another bridge, why not build it further upstream where many villages still have poor access across the river? That would have benefited far more people instead of replacing a bridge that is still in good condition,” he said.

From a transport planning perspective, his suggestion deserves serious consideration. A Marang by-pass is the key concept that the planners should have gone for rather than disturbing the existing alignment, the people and the properties along it.

The meaning of progress? Two of the many houses along the new bridge that have lost their direct road access.

Old bridge to be demolished?

The existing bridge has served Marang safely for decades and continues to function well.

Rather than replacing it, constructing a second bridge further upstream would have created an additional river crossing, improved accessibility for surrounding villages and reduced dependence on a single bridge.

Apparently, one doesn’t need to be a bridge engineer or a transport planner to articulate such a sensible view.

Additional crossings create resilience. When accidents, floods or maintenance works occur, traffic can be diverted instead of bringing an entire town to a standstill. That is how modern transport networks are planned.

Instead, there is speculation among residents that the existing bridge may eventually be demolished once the new bridge opens.

“That is sad. There’s nothing wrong with the old bridge,” another resident told me. “It has served us well for decades. Why demolish something that is still perfectly usable?”

Every person I spoke to welcomed development. None opposed better roads or improved infrastructure.

Their frustration was that no one could explain why the bridge had to be built this way, or why the project had dragged on for years. More importantly, many asked whether anyone had listened to the people who use this bridge every day before deciding on its design and the location.

These are questions the Terengganu government cannot simply ignore.

PAS has governed Terengganu for more than eight years now and the leaders frequently speak about integrity, prudent spending and putting the rakyat first.

Those principles should not be confined to political speeches. They should also be reflected in the way public infrastructure is planned, designed and implemented.

Good governance is not measured by the height of a bridge or the amount of concrete used. It is measured by whether a project solves real problems, represents good value for public money and improves the daily lives of ordinary people.

As I left Marang, I could not help thinking about how much the town had changed. What was once a quiet fishing town with one of the most charming riverfronts on the east coast is today dominated by cranes, concrete barriers and traffic diversions.

As a backdrop, Pulau Kapas, three nautical miles off Marang estuary, is a big tourist attraction. Any development should enhance the character of Marang town, not overwhelm it.

The people I met in Marang are not asking for grand monuments or iconic structures. They simply want infrastructure that solves problems, respects their livelihoods and makes daily life easier.

After nearly 10 years in power, that is surely the standard by which Samsuri’s government would like to be judged: not by the height of a bridge, the number of large contracts given out or the profits made by the contractors, but by the genuine improvements to the lives of the people who voted them in. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.