Vessel passage poser over planned third bridge

GEORGE TOWN: As questions continue to be raised on the controversy involving the undersea tunnel project and the possibility of replacing it with a third bridge to connect the mainland and the island, there is another issue which has cropped up – the fate of Penang Port.

With the southern end of the channel blocked by two bridges that only allow vessels lower than 28m to pass, another bridge across the northern channel would have to soar almost 100m above the sea.

“The largest cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas, has an air draft of 86m. How do you build a bridge three times higher than the Penang Bridge, which is at 28m?” asked Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) chief executive officer Datuk Sasedharan Vasudevan.

Describing it as “an engineering feat that has never been accomplished”, he said the middle span of such a bridge would have to be 1.5km to 2km wide to allow for twoway marine traffic.

Sasedharan questioned if suspending the middle span of such a bridge at a height of 100m was possible.

“We presented 14 pages of observations and critical questions on the viability of such a bridge in 2019 to the state government when we were asked for our feedback.

“All of Penang Port’s terminals are near the mouth of the northern channel and such a massive project must take into account the impact on port development,” he said.

Sasedharan said while cruise ships were the barometer to check on vessel height, even container ships would not be able to pass through the channel.

“Containers stacked on the decks of cargo liners will reach 60m to 70m tall, so such an elevated bridge will need a minimum of 80m to 90m for cargo ships,” he added.

On the possibility of using a drawbridge mechanism at the middle span, Sasedharan said this was a “non-starter”.

Traffic cannot be stopped on a shipping lane with a width of 2km and almost 6,000 ships passing through daily, he added.

Since The Star broke the news of a third bridge being planned to replace the proposed undersea tunnel, there has been a public outcry with many expressing concern on social media.

The bridge plan is expected to cost half the Rm6.3bil cost estimate of the undersea tunnel.

State public works committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari had said that any decision to replace the undersea tunnel plan with an elevated bridge would only be made after the release of the feasibility report on the tunnel.

Many Penangites spoke about the ferry service, which they described as better than the proposed undersea tunnel or elevated bridge.

They urged the state government to consider resuming the ferry service.

Meanwhile, Gerakan is pressing the state government to come clear on the issue.

Its deputy president Oh Tong Keong asked if the Rm305mil cost for the tunnel feasibility report could be recovered if the state decides to abandon it in favour of the elevated bridge.