The M-S Bridge

HRH the Sultan of Johor has publicly asked the government to reconsider construction of the infamous crooked bridge. Some bloggers have joined in the call on the government to do so. The bridge was conceived by the 4^th Prime Minister of Malaysia. PM Najib said, he will look into it.

When Dr. Mahathir mooted the idea, he wasn't just motivated by commercial impulses, i.e. some contractors will get rich with the project. The same will happen if the bridge is approved by PM Najib. DR Mahathir was also motivated by strategic reasons. We aren't sure if this is the case with PM Najib.

You can already see the contrasting approaches between the former and present PMs. Dr Mahathir was all for the agreement and details of transaction with Singapore be made public. PM Najib prefers doing things on the quiet which is discomforting to Malaysians in general. No disrespects to Singapore, but ordinary Malaysians have this perception that in making deals with Singapore, they are always steps ahead. With a reticent and prone to reversals and retractions PM leading our country, we aren't sure what PM Najib has got himself into.

Will the PM consider this royal call? It all depends on the agreement ratified between the PM of Singapore and Malaysia recently. Until details of the agreement are made public everyone is in the dark. We wish our PM is forthcoming in the details of the agreement. The devil is in the details.

Otherwise, this muted treatment of the agreement will be treated with suspicion. What took ages to be resolved can be settled in a few hours meeting. OUR MPs must ask the question and the PM cannot NOT answer their questions in parliament.

The POA inked by TUn Daim included certain outstanding items to be resolved. The basis for resolving the issues is of course the handling of the KTM land in Singapore. In all the land is 271 hectares in size which is about 654 acres. In exchange for developing the KTM land in accordance to the host country, all KTM activities will be relocated at a new mega terminal in Woodlands. That new centre is expected to be completed in 2011.

The 271 hectare KTM land comprising of lands in Tanjung Pagar, Kranji, Woodands and 3 lots in Bukit Timah will be jointly developed by a company known as M-S Pte Ltd- I suppose its Malaysia-Singapore Ltd. The company will be divided on a 60:40 ratio; the former being Malaysia's interests held upon trust by Khazanah Malaysia. I want to term it upon trust signaling that always, whatever Khazanah does, it's done for and in the interests of Malaysia. Lately, this basic idea behind mandates given to Khazanah seems to be violated at every turn and corner.

Now back to the original question to which PM Najib has said he will look into it. To my mind the crucial link will be in the construction of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) which will link Woodlands and Tanjung Puteri in Johor. Where will this RTS traverse? If it is build using the existing causeway as the land link, then, the answer as to whether the century old causeway will be demolished is academic. It will not be demolished if the RTS is build using the causeway as the link.

How will we solve this problem if PM Najib heeds the call by HRH Sultan of Johor and Johoreans in general? The possible solution I guess is to build an underwater channel linking Johor and Singapore. That will allow the causeway to be demolished and a new bridge constructed to link the two countries. But lets hear what engineers say about this.

Who will manage the new WTCP at Woodlands later? If it's done the Singapore way, it will be run purely on commercial principles with a view to profit making. Looking at this positively, it will galvanize KTMB into adopting a new business culture which hopefully will discipline KTMB into operating more efficiently and profitably. 

But, it will have to pay hefty service charges to the WTCP. It will make profit purely from operations as there will be no more assets to parlay with Singapore Inc.

Let's watch what happens.