The Penang Second Brigde in Malaysia - 3068 Words

The Penang Second Bridge is one of the longest in Malaysia and also in the South East Asia region. It is also known as the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge which is named after the Sultan of Kedah. The bridge connects from Batu Kawan on the mainland to Batu Maung on the Penang Island. It has an overall length of 24km and a length over water (displacement) of 16.9km. It is much longer when compared to the Penang First Bridge which only has an overall length of 13.5km. The building of this bridge has cost the government for RM4.5billion. The planning of building the second bridge to link the mainland to the island has been brought up back in the year of 1995 by the 4th Prime Minister which is Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad and also the 3rd Chief Minister of Penang, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon. Later, Malaysian government unveiled the plan to construct the bridge in August 2006. The project is implemented in the 9th Malaysian Plan. It is the largest civil construction work carried out in Malaysia in the past 2 decades. The construction of the bridge officially started in November 2008 after all the planning and procedure done. The bridge is currently projected completed on February 2014. The bridge is built under the cooperation between China and Malaysia. The project itself was funded by China through the Export-Import Bank of China as Malaysia signed RM2.7bilion loan agreement in July 2007. Besides that, Malaysia also cooperated with the contractor from China that is China