Once of the reasons why Malaysia wants to demolish the Causeway and build a suspension bridge in its place is so that their contractor, Gerbang Perdana, can proceed with the building of the Southern Integrated Gateway - a contract which is worth S$1.09 billion. This Gateway apparently calls for a suspension bridge that can be designed to fit into Johor's planned customs facilities. Now, it must be said that Johor Customs seems to be clearing travellers faster that the Singapore Customs, according to recent experience and press reports. With the Johor's new customs facilities, this is set to improve leaps and bounds. But coming back. So far, Singapore has not agreed to this new bridge and thus the concept of the crooked bridge was born.
Now, with political negotiations at a standstill, Malaysia is using another way to get the project to move forward. According to the Hydrologist employed by Gerbang Perdana, Dr Low Kwai Sim, the Johor Causeway is a source of pollution of the Straits of Johor. Therefore to improve the situation, the Causeway should be demolished to solve this problem. Of course, Singapore's own hydrologist disagreed and gave a robust defence.
It seems to me disingenuous that Malaysia should use an 'expert' who is contracted by Gerbang Perdana to provide the scientific basis (read rubber stamp) to their plans to do away with the Causeway. Would the opinion of the 'expert' be any other than in support of their cause?
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