Mahathir wants Causeway replaced with ‘Friendship Bridge’ to Singapore – Bernama
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) today suggested the removal of the Johor Causeway in order to build the Friendship Bridge proposed by the government.
He said the Johor Causeway causes various problems, mainly involving environmental issues and traffic congestion, in Johor Baru.
"If it is a bridge, then what need is there for a causeway? The causeway prevents water from flowing across and also it is very dirty.
"It causes the sea to be very dirty, and there is a very big traffic jam in Johor Baru because the bridge has not been built," he told reporters after giving a public lecture on Leaders in Today’s Society: Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward at the Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Seri Iskandar, Perak.
Dr Mahathir said he hoped that the government would not build a bridge elsewhere and then leave the present bridge in place because that would not solve the problem of traffic congestion in Johor.
"It (the Johor Causeway) should be removed, otherwise there is no friendship,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also expressed his disappointment over the cancellation of the project to build a "Crooked Bridge" on the Malaysian side of the Johor Strait linking to the Causeway on the Singapore side.
He said the crooked bridge should have been built because the Johor Causeway prohibited the east-west flow of water which could be utilised for communication.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak proposed the "Friendship Bridge" at a joint press conference with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after they had wrapped up their two-day annual Malaysia-Singapore Leaders' Retreat in Putrajaya on April 7. – Bernama, April 16, 2014.
