Malaysia’s works minister Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu has confirmed that work on a road tunnel connecting the island of Penang with the mainland in northern Malaysia will start next year.
The scheme forms part of a second link to Penang that is estimated to cost about $450m. Vellu said that Japan’s Overseas Development Agency and other financial institutions had agreed in principle to finance the scheme.
The works minister was due to fly to Japan on March 18, as T&T International went to press, to finalise long-term loans supporting the project.
A privately financed proposal for a second Penang crossing was made two or three years ago by Intria, the Malaysia conglomerate which owns a significant stake in the UK’s Costain. But Intria subsequently hit deep financial problems and is unlikely to proceed with the proposal.
The government’s proposal for the second Penang link calls for a 7.5km long immersed tube tunnel from the mainland to a man-made island where a 5.5km bridge would connect with Penang. The government hopes that the combined tunnel and bridge link will be completed by the end of 2003 to meet the expected growth in vehicle traffic.
Vellu said that the existing bridge could not sustain the traffic flow expected in three years’ time.
He was speaking at a tunnelling conference in Kuala Lumpur jointly organised by the International Tunnelling Association and Malaysia’s Institution of Engineers.
