FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng said he supported an idea to have more bridges connecting Malaysia and Singapore to ease traffic flow, but added that the republic must first agree.

“We need to get Singapore’s agreement. We cannot simply build. We have to discuss it with Singapore, and get their agreement.

“But on my part, I fully agree, as there is a need for another bridge,” Lim told reporters in the Parliament lobby today.

He was asked about Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks two days ago that there should be three to four more bridges to ease traffic flow between Malaysia and Singapore.

Dr Mahathir had also said that even Penang was planning to build a third bridge, even though it had a lower volume of traffic travelling between the mainland and the island compared with vehicles moving between Malaysia and Singapore.

Dr Mahathir, however, said he did not know why Singapore did not want any more bridges.

The two bridges currently connecting Malaysia and Singapore are the Johor Causeway and the Second Link.

Dr Mahathir has pursued the idea of a third bridge linking Johor and Singapore ever since his first tenure as prime minister.

He proposed the “crooked bridge” project before his retirement as prime minister in 2003. It was envisioned as a six-lane highway on an S-shaped bridge that would allow vessels to pass underneath.

His idea, however, was dropped by his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. – March 21, 2019.