Labuan Bridge or Queen Elizabeth Hospital?

I refer to the news appearing in the Star Online this afternoon under the title: "A step closer to Labuan-Sabah bridge" by Mr. RUBEN SARIO, and I have reservation on the possibility of building the Labuan-Sabah bridge in the near future. I just feel that it may never take off.

Full details of the report is as shown in the URL:-
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/5/nation/20090305140818&sec=nation

As the Prime Minister later said, after launching the halal distribution hub at Kiansam, some 20kms from downtown Labuan yesterday, that “Something of this magnitude is not immediately possible but it should be given due attention”.

Although the long-awaited bridge, between mainland Sabah and the Labuan island, will definitely boost up the future prospects of Labuanites, the high costs involved must be justified based on value return and urgency, for example.

The project was estimated at approximately RM550million in 1997 under the The Labuan Development Masterplan; it may be much higher comes 2009. It could well be in the billion mark if it were to go ahead now.

Questions are : Why do we need a bridge for Labuan & Sabah? Isn't the present ferry service good enough for the situation there?

What we really hear most is that the ferry service, being a monopoly, has not been doing its "duty" well despite enjoying very profitable business. In other words, the operator is taking its sweet time by doing little instead of bringing out its bests yet.

The fate of Labuan people are therefore in the hands of the ferry operator who can change the island's future by simply improving services such as increasing the frequency of service with reliability.

Do we still need the bridge now if the ferry operator could do their part well? The answer may be "yes! but not now",if the justification hurdle can not be met.

The RM1b might as well be used in other more pressing areas such as, notably, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kota Kinabalu.

Our leaders should not have announced something that may be years away without taking into account of the reality. They should look into the real needs now than doing something considering as "impractical" at this moment. At least presently, it may not be the bridge that Labuan people needs most.

What the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should have been done, pragmatically, was to get the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the Finance ministry to immediately release the urgently needed funds for projects or schemes meant to help the people getting over the impact of the financial tsunami, as well as solving the woes of Sabahan over the QEH affair.