Johor to discuss the building of replacement bridge

12 July 2010 , By The Star

Johor will discuss the building of a new bridge to replace the 87-year-old Johor causeway with Singapore after issues relating to the points of agreement (POA) are resolved.

Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said there were matters that needed attention, including the cost of untreated water to Singapore.

“We have to come up with a win-win solution to benefit both countries,” he said when asked why the state was not increasing the price of the untreated water sold to Singapore.

The Mentri Besar was also asked why the building of the bridge was not being discussed.

Abdul Ghani was replying to a question raised by Datuk Osman Sapian (BN - Kempas) at the state assembly sitting here.

Osman said the people were in favour of a new bridge and the project should be finalised as soon as possible.

Abdul Ghani said that besides the price of water, both countries also needed to finalised details about the building of a rapid transit system (RTS) between Tanjung Puteri in Johor Baru and Woodlands in Singapore.

During the debate session, Adam Sumiru (BN - Tanjung Puteri) questioned if the new fuel ruling, which imposed a 20-litre restriction on the purchase of petrol within 50km of the border for foreign vehicles, was being monitored by the relevant agencies.

“If no one is monitoring the rule, why implement it?”

He said that he had observed many Singaporean cars frequenting local petrol stations and no one was there to monitor them.

“More than 1,000 Singaporean vehicles come into our state daily and if all of them flout the fuel regulations, it would cost the state a lot of money,” he said.