Proposals

Iskandar Malaysia Integrated Marine, Road, Rail and Air Hub.

Iskandar Malaysia is aggressively gaining its momentum to become a globally renowned development program.

However, I wish to point out the lack of total integration approach in our national and regional future transportation and logistic plans , especially the ongoing development for Iskandar Malaysia.

Although transportation by Air, Road and Rail are being thought of , there seems to be inadequate concern on the development for the marine industry, especially on the connectivity of our marine transportation route around our southern peninsular.

In the past , before our highways were available, the sea route around Malay Peninsular were bustling with marine activities , especially with cargo vessels, barges and ‘tongkangs’ servicing the ports and harbours.

The waterways along Johore Straits is not navigable as the route is obstructed by the Causeway which was built when Johore and Singapore were under the same rule. At that time the sea route around Singapore waters was also relatively a domestic route and navigable for our local mariners , until the island became a Republic when she became independent from Malaysia.

The sea route around the republic therefore now became no longer navigable and economical for our domestic licensed vessels, as they would have to comply to foreign and international standards that will push the operating cost of our domestic vessels to be much more costly.

Not much seems to have been done to overcome this setback , and the progress of our marine industry, especially involving our locally manageable marine businesses, started to dwindle and seems to have diminished especially for the region linking the western and eastern coastline of Johore.

With Mega Investment going into Iskandar Malaysia, it is crucial for transportation by sea along the cost of Johore be re-established as this would contribute greatly to the commercial development of the region. To achieve this, several infrastructure need to be developed to enhance the development of Johore and at the same time maintaining the crucial commercial link for our business activities in neighbouring Singapore.

a. The Causeway have to be removed and replaced with other alternative , at least along the Malaysian side which is believed to be the relatively deeper and navigable side of Johore Straits.

b. The alternative link such as the iconic ‘Scenic Bridge’ which was proposed during the premiership of Tun Dr Mahadhir, a Swing Bridge (as being presently used in Butterworth), or better still an underground or immersed tunnel (such as those being introduced in Korea, Turkey and China) would be very appropriate. Appropriate ferry and marine cargo terminal would be incorporated to provide a seamless link for commercial activities.

c.The present Railway Station within the Sultan Iskandar CIQ Complex in Johore Baru is already well suited to be ‘Asia’s Southernmost Railway Terminal in ASIA’. This Terminal can be well link to a Railway Hub in Johore Bahru providing Commuter, LRT, Monorail, or MRT services to Woodlands in the south , to Senai and beyond in the north, to Ramunia up to Mersing in the east , and to Tg Piai (Southermost Tip of ASIA) up to Pontian in the west of Johore.

d. The Johore Railway Hub, probably North of Johore Bahru would also provide an effective network for cargo trains to Tg Pelepas Port, Pasir Gudang Port, Senai Airport and several industrial zones enroute.

When the Johore Straits is accessible and navigable for domestic marine vessels plying directly between Tg Pelepas and Pasir Gudang , it would be a competitive alternative for the transfer of goods between to two ports by medium size vessels or barges, for goods destined within the regions in Johore, or beyond for transhipment to the east and west of Peninsular Malaysia.

Together with this would be domestic commercial activities for smaller crafts thriving along the coast of Johore , especially along the southern water frontage facing Singapore. International ferry terminals would be conveniently established at suitable landing points mutually selected by Johore and Singapore authorities.

Navigable access for marine craft across the present site of the causeway and all along the Johore Straits would trigger vast commercial development in marine activities for vessel design, construction, operation, MRO and upgrade.

An Integrated transportation development linking Marine , Road, Rail and Air Terminals would Leap-Frog Iskandar Malaysia development to become the most Integrated Logistic Hub of the ‘Southernmost Tip of ASIA’.

Wait too long for bus to Jasin Melaka.My wife who need to visit my son everyday in Malacca goverment hospital need to wait nearly more than 2 hours to get the bus from central melaka to Jasin,her home. She keep on told me its very painful and tired to wait for the bus in front of bus stop hospital.Not only her, I get used to see a lot people including pregnant ladies,old people,handicspped people all keep on waiting for bus quite long. Government Malacca keep on publizing that Malacca on of the developed state and world heritage state.But, I totally disagreed with the declarition as no improvement on public transport. Somemore, taxi drivers at Central Malacca charge RM15-20 for trip from Central Malacca to hospital Malacca which I think very unfair fair as it only take 5-10 minutes to reach hospital from Central and the buses charge only RM1..Please help forward this message to respective channel for better improvement in future..Thanks..