Toll rates on Second Penang Bridge yet to be decided

Almost done: Construction work being carried out at the Second Penang Bridge.

BUTTERWORTH: Motorists travelling along the Second Penang Bridge, which is due to open in September, will have a toll-free ride in the first few weeks of its operation.Toll rates for the 24km bridge will be officially introduced in October. Jambatan Kedua Sdn Bhd (JKSB) chairman Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob said this during Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim's visit to the site at Batu Kawan, near here, yesterday.

Dr Sulaiman said the new bridge was expected to reduce the traffic congestion on the current Penang Bridge by 25% to 30% and could cater up to 100,000 vehicles per hour. Meanwhile, Lim said the Cabinet had yet to decide on the toll rates for the second bridge. He assured, however, that “it will be reasonable and not burden the people.” He said that apart from being the longest bridge in South-East Asia, it would also be the 20th longest bridge in the world.

Commending JKSB on the progress of the bridge, Lim said it was two months ahead of schedule and was currently 90.4% completed. The bridge was scheduled to be joined at the mid-span in March while the toll plazas, levelling and other infrastructure were expected to be completed by June or July, he said. Lim said Malaysia struck its first borrowing deal of US$300mil (RM912.75mil) with the Chinese Government for the bridge.

“We hope that this will open up more avenues for future loans with China, which has the biggest foreign reserve in the world,” he said. Lim said the construction of the bridge allowed for the transfer of technology with the Chinese contractor (China Harbour Engineering Company), which also built the world's longest bridge in the world linking Shanghai to Ningbo in China.