KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia does not need to obtain consent from the Singapore government to build the "crooked bridge" linking Johor Baru and the island nation, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic).

The Prime Minister said the government would examine the "crooked bridge" proposal from the Johor state government, which he said was different from the third link project.

"This (crooked bridge project) comes from Johor but some people say they want a third bridge and not a crooked bridge.

"If they want to have the third bridge, we have to ask Singapore and I don't think Singapore will give consent.

"The crooked bridge doesn't involve Singapore at all and we can build it at any time," he told reporters in Parliament on Thursday (Oct 18).

The crooked bridge project was mooted by Dr Mahathir before he retired as premier in 2003.

He had planned to build the bridge, which involved a six-lane S-shaped highway that allows vessels to pass under it, since Singapore refused to demolish its half of the causeway link between the two countries.

The project was dropped by Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when he became prime minister, which led to Dr Mahathir fiercely opposing his hand-picked successor.

However, on Tuesday (Oct 16), Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian said the state government had raised the matter of reviving the project with Dr Mahathir.

Osman said the Johor state government will be holding a meeting with the Singaporean government at the end of this month to discuss on the crooked bridge and third link projects.

The third link project in Sungai Rengit, Pengerang, Kota Tinggi is to ease traffic congestion at the Johor Causeway and the Second Link Crossing.

The bridge would link the southeast part of Johor with Pulau Ubin in Singapore.