Johor is preparing to build an air-conditioned walkway along its side of the Malaysia-Singapore Causeway, which will be roughly 350 metres long.
The Johor state government has applied to the Malaysian Federal Government for RM30 million in financing the walkway, said Mohd Solihan Badri, State Works, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman.
“After an upgrade to include escalators and air conditioning, the allocation proposal has doubled from the original RM15 million earlier this year”, said Mohd Solihan.
“Under the proposal, the walkway will stretch 350m and finish at the Singapore border, he said, adding that he could not provide the estimation of how long the distance to Singapore would be.
Hundreds of pedestrians are reported to have crossed the Causeway on foot on a regular basis before Malaysia implemented the Movement Control Order (MCO) in March to curb the spread of COVID-19. While the authorities have not taken any steps so far, according to Mohd Solihan, pedestrians have not actually been permitted to cross the border on foot, as this may be dangerous.
“But we do not specifically enforce this limit,” he said, adding that there is actually no official statistics on the number of people walking over the Causeway.
Several officials from the Singapore Consulate-General in Johor Bahru had expressed interest in the project at a recent meeting and would present the proposal to the Singaporean government once it is allowed and approved by Malaysian Federal government.
