SERI ISKANDAR (Perak): Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday 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 Baharu.
“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 Baharu because the bridge not being built,” he told reporters after giving a public lecture on ‘Leaders in Today’s Society: Issues, Challenges and the Way Forward’ at Universiti Teknologi Petronas here.
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. — Bernama