Labuan businesses keen for bridge to Sabah to become reality

KOTA KINABALU: Businesses are keen for the government to push ahead with the decades-old call for a bridge to link Labuan island with mainland Sabah.

Labuan Chamber of Commerce chairman Daniel Doughty said that the bridge would diversify the island's economy and boost its development.

"The bridge will foster connectivity, draw in new investments and generate jobs across various sectors such as tourism, logistics, and agriculture.

"Moreover, it would help in creating a more efficient and cost effective transportation for businesses as well as for the islanders," he said amid fresh calls for the bridge connecting the island federal territory with mainland Sabah.

Doughty said that the Chamber firmly believed that the bridge would "unleash the island's full potential as an economic hub and stimulate growth in the region”.

He said that the bridge should not be considered a luxury but a necessity for Labuan.

Taking Penang's success story with its bridge to mainland Peninsular Malaysia, he said that Penang now has more than 350 multinational corporations and over 4,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

"This serves as a great case study for the potential of a new bridge to Labuan from mainland Sabah," he said in supporting a fresh call by Labuan Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) division chief Datuk Peter Mak's call for the bridge.

Doughty said that by building the bridge to Sabah, the Federal and Sabah state governments could consider Labuan as a new economic corridor that will be able to serve the nearby mainland town and communities through fresh investments.

Currently, motorists have to use RoRo ferry services from Labuan to Menumbok on Sabah's mainland.

The call for a bridge to link Labuan and mainland Sabah has been talked about for decades but successive governments have yet to implement it for various reasons, but mainly due to the high costs involved.