2nd Penang Bridge ready by 2011 - MOF2

2008/05/26
NST
'Bridge will be ready by 2011'
By Audrey Dermawannews@nst.com.my

BUTTERWORTH: The government will stick to its 2011 deadline for the completion of the Second Penang Bridge, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said.
He gave an assurance that the RM4.3 billion project, linking Batu Kawan in Seberang Perai Selatan and Batu Maung on the island, would be implemented as scheduled."Work is currently in progress. We will stick to the 2011 deadline," he said after presenting house keys to the 2004 tsunami victims in Kuala Muda here yesterday.

Some 400 people received the keys to their new homes.Nor Mohamed was responding to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who said at the same event that the bridge project was important to attract foreign investments, following a RM1.2 billion pledge by Japanese-based Ibiden Co Ltd last week.

He said prospective investors had asked about the bridge project and wanted an assurance it would proceed as planned.Work on the 24km bridge, scheduled to be opened by January 2011, has been delayed by nine months.

Nor Mohamed, the Tasek Gelugor MP, said the federal government spent about RM33.68 million on the construction of the new homes and another RM9.4 million on the land.Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd (SPNB), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Finance Ministry Inc, built the homes. Each home cost RM45,000 but beneficiaries only paid a third of the amount. They also received RM1,000 each as moving expenses.Present were Penaga assemblyman Datuk Azhar Ibrahim and SPNB chairman Datuk Azian Osman.