Published August 20, 2009

Rehashing plan for 49 km bridge

But prospect of bridge linking Malacca, Sumatra still doubtful

By S JAYASANKARAN
IN KUALA LUMPUR
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A 14-year old plan to build a US$12.5 billion, 49 kilometre bridge between Malacca and Sumatra has been dusted off and resubmitted to both governments by a private Malaysian firm for approval. But now, as it was then, its feasibility remains in doubt.

Yesterday, businessman Ibrahim Zain was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying that his private Straits of Malacca Partners had submitted its proposals to both capitals and hoped to start work 'by the end of the year or early 2010'.

He said that the project would cost US$12.5 billion and was based on traffic projections of at least 15,000 vehicles a day. He also said that toll charges would be around US$75-US$85 per vehicle based on current ferry charges of RM100 (S$40) per person one way.

According to Mr Ibrahim, funding was also no problem with his firm generating 15 per cent (RM6.64 billion) and an official from China's Exim Bank being quoted as saying that his bank could provide 'up to 85 per cent funding for such infrastructure projects'.

The plan seems to suggest a return to the Think Big credo that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad suggested should be the operational philosophy of Malaysia's business community. During the go-go 1990s, all sorts of grandiose projects - including, memorably, a planned city-on-a-river - suggested by the private sector were endorsed by him.



In any case, the plan does reinforce a suggestion in 1995 by Dr Mahathir to build a similar bridge to enhance greater connectivity between Malaysia and the region's largest economy.

At the time, the plan was embraced with enthusiasm by the Renong conglomerate, then no stranger to grandiose projects, which came up with a feasibility study. But the project ran up against the Asian financial crisis and nothing was heard about it again.

The project presupposes that Malaysian businessmen would use the facility and invest in Sumatra in a big way, thus creating enough jobs there to stem the influx of Indonesian immigrants to Malaysia looking for work. It also is based on a belief that trade and tourism between Malacca and Sumatra would boom - at least 7 per cent of Sumatra's 70 million people are middle class.

But some maritime analysts argue that the Straits of Malacca is one of the world's busiest waterways and building a bridge across it could be a hazard looking ahead. Last year, shipping volume grew at 7 per cent and that's been a continuous process.

Indeed, a recent study by the Maritime Institute of Malaysia estimated that the waterway would be at near-peak capacity by 2024. 'Given that the bridge would be spanning 48 kilometres, its pylons could pose a danger to ships especially in stormy weather,' one analyst told BT.

It also isn't clear if permission for such a bridge would be needed from the waterway's users epitomised by the International Maritime Organisation. It also isn't clear if Singapore's wishes must be heeded. Maritime law stipulates that the permission from littoral states must be obtained, but some maritime analysts argue that Singapore's littoral status is confined to the Singapore straits and not the Malacca straits.