Johor Ruler asks Putrajaya to reconsider new Causeway

Sultan Ibrahim Ismail stresses the Johor-Singapore Causeway project is important for the people of Johor. — Bernama pic

JOHOR BARU, June 26 — The Sultan of Johor today asked Putrajaya to consider reviving the bridge project to replace the Causeway between the state capital and Singapore.

Sultan Ibrahim Ismail said the project was important for the people of Johor.

He said this at the launch of the Kembara Mahkota programme at JB Sentral, his annual programme to tour the state and meet the people that was started when he was the crown prince.

There has been several attempts to replace the 1,056-metre Johor–Singapore Causeway that was completed in 1923 after four years of construction at a cost of $17 million (in 1924).

It continues to serve as a road, rail, and pedestrian link, as well as water piping into Singapore as Malaysia mulls several options including a crooked bridge that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said will allow water flow and ships to pass through the narrow Johor strait.

The causeway is connected to the Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex in Johor Bahru that replaced the Causeway Checkpoints on December 16, 2008.

The complex is linked to Johor Bahru’s Inner Ring Road which intersects with the Skudai Highway and on the Singapore side, the causeway leads to the Woodlands CIQ checkpoint.

The causeway carries 60,000 vehicles on a typical day, with particularly bad traffic congestion on the eve of public holidays. BERNAMA