I am eyeing the progress of the Second Penang Bridge like a hawk and with great interest. So pardon me if you find there are more news about Penang than other areas. Can’t help it because house is near there!

News reports said construction works will start early November if the green light from the Malaysian government is given by Aug 1. Read on for the latest news:

BEST WORKERS FROM CHINA FOR SECOND PENANG BRIDGE

From Shanty Devi Ayadurai

SHANGHAI, July 27 (Bernama) — The most experienced workers and
professionals from China will be employed for building the Second Penang
Bridge, says a senior engineer with the China Harbour Engineering Company
Ltd, Wan Jun Yi.
Wan is presently managing the Sutong Bridge which was recently
completed by CHEC in the Jiangsu Province of China.
The bridge is the first in CHEC’s list to use the short-line-matching
technology for building the bridge across the Yangtze River, linking
Nantong city and Suzhou city in the province.
The Penang Second Bridge will be also built using the same technology.
The 8146 m long Sutong bridge which partly used the technology is also
the world’s first longest stayed cable bridge.
Its other world records include having the main span stretching for
1088 m, beating the record held by Japan’s Duo Duo Luo Bridge by 198 m.
A total of 3,000 workers were used in building the bridge, Wan told
Malaysian journalists during a visit to the bridge some 300 km from here
Wednesday.
CHEC, which is developing the Second Penang Bridge together with UEM,
has given the commitment to the Malaysian government to start work on the
bridge in early November if all relevant approvals and documentation on the
Malaysian side are completed by Aug 1.
CHEC has already started survey and geo-investigation works at site and
mobilised dredging equipment and is on standby to start other preliminary
work such as trial piles and dredging.
It is also awaiting the final say from the Malaysian government and UEM
on the design for the two viewing platforms on either side of the bridge
which are expected to have some Islamic features.
The location of the production yard for the bridge materials and other
machinery is also yet to be identified.
CHEC is China’s leading bridge builder but its projects have been
mostly within China so far and it sees the development of the Second Penang
Bridge as a significant development outside China and as a move towards its
expansion to the region and the rest of the world. — BERNAMA