His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in his birthday titah yesterday brought good news to residents of Brunei by announcing the construction of a bridge connecting the Temburong District to the Brunei-Muara District.

"In the government effort for comprehensive nation-building, the good news is that after feasibility work has been done, my Government is now planning in detail for the construction of a bridge connecting the Temburong District to the Brunei-Muara District," the monarch said.

The call for such bridge has been repeatedly raised at the Legislative Council meetings since it was reinstated several years ago.

Two years ago, a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) was signed between the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Ove Arup and Associates for the feasibility study to construct a road and bridge linking Brunei-Muara and Temburong.

The government, through the National Development Plan, allocated a sum for the feasibility study. The study, costing over B$2 million, was to make a thorough analysis on issues involved in plans to construct a road and bridge connecting the two districts.

The study identified several main aspects including socio-economic, technical, environ-mental, financial and other aspects.

The design of the bridge would be unique, using Islamic architecture, and will span 22 kilometres, including 12km across the water and another 10km across the mangrove swamp.

It will be designed in such a way the mangroves are preserved.

The construction of the link would facilitate the transportation of agricultural products and bring a lot of opportunities for tourism development in the Temburong District, dubbed the 'Green Jewel', as tour agents would be able to send tourists directly to Temburong from the airport and supply water to the capital.

At present, commuters from the capital heading to Temburong and vice versa have to pass through Limbang or take a boat ride along the Brunei River. - Borneo Bulletin (16 July 2012)