The design of the RM620 million 'half bridge' to Singapore - whether crooked or straight - has yet to be finalised by the government, Works Minister S Samy Vellu said today.

"The new design is in the final stage of preparation and has a minor change, considering its new construction method and its present cost," he said in reply to Hasni Mohamad (BN-Pontian) at the Dewan Rakyat today.

The controversy-ridden project is expected to take 36 months and will be completed in the second quarter of 2009. Preparation works for the bridge's construction have since started.

In a supplementary question, Shahrir Samad (BN-Johor Baru) asked the minister to give assurance that the work order on the bridge would not be revoked no matter what.

To this, Samy Vellu said he has ordered work to continue despite the ongoing negotiations between Malaysia and Singapore for a final decision on the bridge, temporarily dubbed the 'scenic bridge'.

"The work will definitely continue unless I get a new instruction from the prime minister," he said, adding the latest round of bilateral meetings on the issue took place on March 10 and 11.

In 'same area'

At a press conference later, Samy Vellu said Singapore had requested to have the original bridge design proposed by Malaysia, termed as a 'full straight (twin arch) bridge'.

Asked how works could proceed if the project's final design is yet to be confirmed, he replied: "Even if the bridge is straight, it will still remain in the same area. We can change (the preparatory works) a bit (to suit the final design)," the minister said without elaborating further.

On Monday, Samy Vellu was reported as saying that he had directed the project's contractor, Gerbang Perdana, three weeks ago to start construction despite Singapore having yet to agree.

Samy Vellu said Singapore could continue to build the other half of the bridge linking it to the republic once it agreed to do so. The Singaporean government has said that it would only agree to the construction of a full bridge to replace the existing ageing causeway if both sides stood to gain equally.

Costly repairs

To a query earlier in the house on the Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2), the works minister said the troubled flyover's costly repair works was something which 'rarely happened' with regards to the ministry's projects.

"Our surveillance from 2000 to 2005 showed that only the MRR2 in Kepong experienced a crack that caused danger," he said in reply to Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera).

"Other cracks found were not serious and were under the tolerance limit of 0.3mm. The repair works were carried out immediately," he said, adding cracks found on the surface of bridges and flyovers normally were non-structural and only occurred during the initial stage of construction.