Singapore's glittering Autobahn, Part 2

Note: Wikiepedia pix shows the current causeway linking southern Singapore and Sentosa island. The other causeway, which connects northern Singapore and Malaysia, has been retarding the flow of water in the dirty Straits of Johor for more than eight decades.

It's great to read about the latest plan to improve traffic access to the tourist island of Sentosa from Singapore's mainland.

According to The Straits Times, the roads leading to Sentosa, VivoCity and HarbourFront will be widened to cater to an anticipated increase in traffic into the area. With one of Singapore's two integrated resorts opening on Sentosa and new condominiums to be built in the area by 2010, traffic is likely to go up by 30 per cent, said the Land Transport Authority yesterday.

The ST article didn't mention it, but earlier news reports had said that Genting International's Resorts World at Sentosa -- the developer of the integrated resort and casino on Sentosa -- had started work on the second bridge to link Sentosa and the mainland.

The second bridge is aimed at easing visitor traffic as over 15 million of them are expected to visit the Resort when it opens in early 2010 or 2011. The report said the 710-metre, 3-lane bridge will run parallel to the existing causeway which connects Sentosa to the mainland. And when completed in September 2009, both will be merged.

The latest roadwork and the new Sentosa bridge will be a great addition to the new transport blueprint unveiled by the government in the past two weeks. Apart from plans to improve the public transportation system, the government will build the North-South Expressway by 2020. Singapore's Autobahn will cost S$8 billion, or at a stggering S$381 million per km.

Many locals and foreigners will enjoy seamless travel from Sentosa to the rest of Singapore, thanks to the government's transportation blueprint.

But they will almost certainly hit a major road bump should they wish to cross over to the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru. The two countries have not been able to work together to jointly build a bridge to replace the old and congested causeway. A new and wider overhead bridge, which will have many benefits, shouldn't cost more than S$1 billion each.

This is a rough estimate based on the two countries' construction bill of over RM2.4 billion (slightly more than S$1 billion based on today's exchange rate) to jointly build the longer Second Link bridge when bilateral ties were a lot warmer in the mid-1990s.

Malaysia's bill came up to more than RM1.2 billion. Singapore's portion was last reported to be about S$600 million.

A new bridge to ease the massive cross-border flow between Malaysia and Singapore makes good sense. ST had earlier estimated about 250,000 people enter Malaysia via the causeway every day. This works out to more than 90 million people each year, which is a staggering number as it is nearly 20 times the population of Singapore. The traffic volume at the causeway is 6 times higher than the projected number of visitors to Sentosa.

It will be ideal if one could travel from Sentosa all the way to Malaysia seamlessly one day via two wide bridges and the glittering S$8-billion Autobahn.

Updated: Dr M going home!

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (ST pix) has finally been discharged from hospital following his protracted recovery from his second heart bypass seven weeks ago.

An AP report cited the hospital as saying that Dr Mahathir, 82, is expected to continue with physiotherapy exercises at home and return to the institute for routine checkups.

The news report said a November heart attack forced Dr Mahathir to halt his one-man campaign against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whom he picked to succeed him when he retired in 2003 after 22 years in power. Dr Mahathir has accused Mr Abdullah of nepotism and mismanaging the economy. Mr Abdullah rejects the charges.

Sophie's World doesn't think Dr Mahathir will resume his campaign so soon to resolve the bridge issue and the unfulfilled gentlemen's agreement with Badawi.

Dr Mahathir needs to take it easy for some time even if his enemies continue to snipe at him. And Dr Mahathir should not waste time with someone like Khairy Jamaluddin, the son-in-law of Badawi.

Incidentally, the profile of Khairy in Singapore's Today this weekend is way too sycophantic. The article paints such a positive picture of the young man as if he's a PM candidate.

The political star in Malaysia has always been the visionary Dr Mahathir, not a young and ambitious upstart with many faces like Khairy.


Sophie's Choice
Dr M's daughter Marina Mahathir takes a dig at Khairy.

Distressed Johor straits

New Straits Times has an interesting article and pix today about the distressed Straits of Johor separating Malaysia and Singapore.

The picture shows a rare and recent phenomenon of shoals of fish leaping into the air due to unknown reasons.

The article hazarded a guess that the phenomenon could be due to the increase in the pollution levels in the straits, which is noted for its high levels of lead, mercury and e-coli bacteria.

The newspaper cited Malaysian Nature Society Johor branch bio-diversity researcher Vincent Chow as saying that it is possible that the water is warming up as a direct result of global warming, causing marine parasites to multiply faster than normal and attack the fish.

"When these parasites attach themselves to the body of the fish, the discomfort causes them to dart about in an effort to dislodge the parasite," Chow said.

Well, it doesn't come as a total surprise that marine life in the straits is distressed. The article didn't give the reason for the high pollution levels in the straits.

As mentioned in a previous post, the straits of Johor is extremely dirty due to two reasons -- continued discharge of waste by Johor rivers into the straits, and the retarded flow of water due to the land-based causeway linking Malaysia and Singapore.

Malaysia and Johor must step up efforts to clean up the rivers and relocate industries and squatters along the dirty rivers.

An overhead bridge to replace the causeway will definitely help water circulate more freely in the straits and flush the toxic water. An overhead bridge project was first mooted in 1996 by Malaysia but sadly, the Malaysian and Singapore governments have not been able to agree to proceed with the project.

Concerted efforts are needed to clean up the dirty straits and help the distressed fish and marine life breathe a little easier.

JB-Singapore MRT?

A new Malaysian company is toying with the idea of building a monorail network in Johor Baru and linking it to Singapore. According to Malaysia's BT today, little-known Jalur Mudra is having talks with Singapore's SMRT Corporation, which operates the Mass Rapid Transit network in Singapore, for a joint venture.

The project definitely sounds useful to help cater to the massive human traffic flowing between Singapore and southern Malaysia. Nearly 10 million Singaporeans entered Malaysia, mainly through JB, last year. This is more than the 8-odd million tourists to Singapore last year.

But can such a project take off? Will it help resolve traffic and straits woes?

Don't bet on it. There are just too many complications surrounding such a project. And even if it does take off, it won't be the ideal solution.

1. The project will most likely need a new link across the Straits of Johor to Singapore as there is simply no room on the causeway for a monorail track, no matter how slim it is.

2. Will Singapore agree to a monorail track from JB to Singapore via the Straits of Johor when the two governments could not even agree on a new bridge to replace the causeway that links JB and Singapore?

3. Will there be complications for immigration clearance? Or will travellers from Singapore zip to JB without passports under the proposed immigration-free zone in JB?

A more ideal solution is for Malaysia and Singapore to jointly agree on a new and wider bridge to replace the causeway, which retards the flow of water in the filthy Straits of Johor.

1. Singapore and Malaysia planners can then allocate space for the monorail project from JB to Singapore on the new bridge.

2. Planners on both sides of the causeway can also discuss the possibility of setting aside space on the new bridge for the bullet train service -- proposed by Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh -- from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

3. Channelling the human traffic through the current custom and immigration facilities in JB and Singapore will be a neater solution, than possibly building new facilities just to cater to the monorail track.

Building a new bridge to replace the causeway will solve many problems in one fell swoop.

Malaysia and Singapore can make provision for wider roads and space for useful projects such as the monorail and bullet train service to cater to the massive cross-border flow of people. And an overhead bridge will also allow water to flow freely in the Straits of Johor after more than 80 years.

Reposting: Useful Causeway?

The causeway continues to be clogged with monster traffic. Mom and dad went to the border city of Johor Baru for an emergency following the sudden hospitalisation of grandpa last week. But they were caught in a massive traffic jam at 10pm. The volume of motor cycles and cars returning to JB at the end of each of working day was simply too overwhelming.

Fortunately, immigration checks didn't take too long after a one-hour jam, which is quite a short wait compared to other days. Must thank the two governments for making life easier for residents of the two countries?

Can we really expect the leaders of the two countries to understand the hardship undergone by regular users of the causeway? Have they really gone through the gridlock regularly in the first place? Please see earlier postings on issues linked to the causeway.

Apart from making immigration check smoother on both sides of the causeway, the idea of a new and wider bridge to replace the causeway simply cannot be dismissed. The old causeway was simply not designed to help the massive cross-border flow of people -- Singaporeans and Malaysians.

The Singapore government has not felt any urgency to resolve the long-standing problem posed by the 83-year-old causeway ever since former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad mooted the bridge project in 1996. In fact, Singapore's position has always been that the causeway has continued to be useful, and there is no need to replace it with an overhead bridge, which would have allowed water to flow freely in the dirty straits.

As usual, Singapore won't react unless its narrow interest is at stake. And the traffic woes and roadworks at the Malaysian end of the causeway have finally caught the attention of Singapore's lawmakers.

Business Times - 15 Nov 2006

Diversion of Causeway traffic will affect S'pore

ANY diversion of traffic from the Causeway to the Second Link caused by Malaysia's proposed closing of the Causeway to heavy vehicles will have material implications for Singapore, Transport Minister Raymond Lim said yesterday in Parliament.

Mr Lim was responding to a question by MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Wee Siew Kim, who had asked for an update on an announcement by the Malaysian government in August that the Causeway would be closed to heavy vehicles from Malaysia so as to facilitate the construction of a new road.

'Naturally, we are concerned about this development, since any diversion of traffic from the Causeway to the Second Link will have material implications for Singapore,' Mr Lim said.

"In particular, we have concerns over the possible impact of the proposal on traffic and checkpoint operations at the Second Link and the Causeway, as well as the economic costs,' he added.

However, Mr Lim said that the government would need more details on the proposed diversion to assess the full impact on Singapore. 'We have already requested from the Malaysians further details on the proposed diversion,' Mr Lim said.

Malaysia's rather cool response to Singapore as reported in The Star today:

Sunday November 19, 2006

Singapore to get enough notice on diversion

SUNGAI SIPUT: Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has reassured Singapore that Malaysia would give sufficient notice on when it would temporarily divert heavy vehicles from the Causeway to the Second Link.

Addressing concerns raised by Singapore’s Transport Ministry, Samy Vellu said the Government was still discussing the logistics with various agencies.

“Once that's done, we will give the foreign and transport ministries at least two months’ notice.”

The Causeway was to have been closed to heavy vehicles to facilitate construction of a flyover linking the new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex to the Causeway.