I read with disbelief the news report that Malacca chief minister Mohd Ali Rustam is considering a proposal to build a bridge from Malacca to Sumatra.

The estimated cost of the project is RM44 billion! Apparently, this project was first mooted in 1995 during the time of grandiose projects and extreme extravagance.

However, the project was shelved during the financial crisis in 1997. Now, even before the country can emerge from an even worse financial crisis, the project is rearing its ugly head again.

This 49km bridge will be almost four times the length of the Penang bridge and is supposed to become the "longest man-made link between two countries".

And as if that is not enough, there is even an alternative proposal to include an underground tunnel to accompany the bridge across the Straits of Malacca!

To put the costs of this project into perspective, the first Penang bridge cost less than RM1 billion to build and the second Penang bridge costs RM4.3 billion.

The first economic stimulus package announced by the government last year is RM7 billion and the second economic stimulus package proposed in March this year is RM60 billion.

Now, they want to build a bridge for RM44 billion?

The very big question is who will be footing the bill for this humongous project. The chairman of the company proposing this project says "15 per cent of the funding for the project will come internally while the rest (comes) from bank borrowings."

Now, who exactly is taking the multi-billion bank loan and ultimately bearing the billions of interest costs?

Is the company, Straits of Malacca Partners Sdn Bhd paying RM44 billion for the construction of the bridge? Or is the government going to be dragged into paying for the bridge fully or partially?

It is hard to believe that a company by itself has the resources and is willing to invest RM44 billion on its own.

The next question is what can justify spending RM44billion for the construction of such a bridge from Malacca to Sumatra?

According to news reports, Ali Rustam is reported to have said: "Malacca has a population of 800,000 and has 40,000 vehicles including buses and lorries entering the state daily. We also received 7.2 million tourists last year."

He went on to add: "In Sumatra, where the bridge is linked through Dumai, there are 70 million people and 10% are rich. They have money and come to Malacca for health tourism."

I'm not sure I can follow the logic. Is the chief minister of Malacca implying that 40,000 vehicles entering Malacca daily from other states in Malaysia means that there will be sufficient number of vehicles using the proposed bridge to come over from Sumatra into Malacca?

The company has projected that 15,000 vehicles will use the bridge daily. Hopefully, they have used a more reliable method to arrive at this projection. I also do not know how Ali Rustam arrived at the conclusion that 10% of the 70 million people in Sumatra are rich.

But even if a small percentage of these "rich" Indonesians do come to Malaysia for health tourism, they may not necessarily go to Malacca.

Neither is it necessary that they drive across the proposed bridge to visit Malaysia. There are airplanes, you know. They can easily take a flight and land in Malaysia in a jiffy. There are also budget airlines for Indonesians who are not so rich.

Why take this super bridge especially if there is a toll charge of about RM260 (they have proposed a US$75-US$85 toll charge per vehicle)?

Let's assume that the projected usage of the bridge is achievable and make some quick calculations. 15,000 vehicles a day at RM260 per vehicle works out to about RM4 million in toll collections per day. This means about RM1.5 billion in revenue a year.

However, if there is a RM37 billion loan (85% of the estimated RM44 billion) obtained from banks what will be the annual interest charges? Assuming the interest rate is 5%, the interest expense alone will be RM1.85 billion annually.

How about other operating expenses? It looks like it is very difficult to see how this project can be profitable and financially feasible.

The whole country is currently reeling from the mind-boggling revelations of the PKFZ scandal with allegations of irregularities including inflated claims amounting to between RM500 million to RM1 billion. The PKFZ fiasco that was initially estimated to cost RM2 billion may eventually cost the country RM12.5 billion.

It is alarming that now an even bigger project with initial cost of RM44 billion is being considered with reports that the PM is supportive of the idea. Of course the usual excuse is given to expedite this project.

"We need to start the project as soon as possible so that we would not pay higher construction materials cost," proclaimed the chairman of Straits of Malacca Partners Sdn Bhd.

This extraordinarily extravagant project must be nipped in the bud and Malaysians have to be extra vigilant that taxpayers' money must not be wasted again on grandiose projects.