PENANG BRIDGE CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR.

from BERNAMA, The Malaysian National News Agency PENANG, Feb 28 (Bernama) -- When veteran politician Dr Lim Chong Eu (now Tun) spoke about building a bridge linking Penang Island to Butterworth on the mainland way back in the 1950s and 60s, there were many sceptics then.

They felt that such a massive infrastructural undertaking may not be feasible as no such bridge had been built in the region before.

But Dr Lim, who went on to become Chief Minister of Penang between 1969 and 1990, persevered with the idea of this important linkage.

Finally on April 13, 1985, a 13.5km bridge, with four towers in mid-span and standing 33 metres above water, was completed within four years after the federal government pumped in RM850 million for the project.

Before it was built, …