Focus on more connectivity, not just Yes or No for the crooked bridge

I am all for developments (responsibly) and I am all for connectivity (necessity). Without these two, nothing much happens and we do not need to talk about helping the B40 households for example.  With regards to the never ending debates about the crooked bridge, perhaps it’s best to stop all the rhetorics about whether or not the crooked bridge is needed or not needed or even about who will actually be financing it for that matter. Should we not be talking about the actual benefits it will bring? The economic spillover effects from more visitors? How much increase are we talking about. What’s the cost-benefit analysis? Can we have this shared to the public?
As for the connectivity between JB and SG, it’s a foregone conclusion that we need more ways and not fewer. It took me 2 hours just to reach JB from Singapore side on a weekday after-office hours. In other words, something must happen quickly! For connectivity to be enhanced, it should reach the masses. If we are only talking about those who have cars in Singapore, the actual target is going to be very small. There are only a total of over half a million cars in Singapore currently. Here’s the info source: land Transport Authority of Singapore.  Or are we talking about Malaysians driving into Singapore? This will be interesting…
Latest statement about crooked bridge? Our newly minted Works Minister Baru Bian told Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) during the Minister’s Question Time in Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 30) this. He said that the previous government has paid some RM257 million in compensation for the cancellation of the crooked bridge 12 years ago. He shared, “The proposed project was shelved by the 5th Prime Minister (Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) in April 2006 due to international legal and moral considerations. Owing to this, the government had to pay a compensation of RM257.4mil. He also stateds that the crooked bridge will only be revived if Singapore agrees to it. Here’s that article in TheStar for reading.  Let’s follow and see if we get some comments from the Singapore side soon.
written on 30 Oct 2018
Next suggested article:  RTS gets in-principle approval. 10,000 passengers per hour each way.