The report that Malaysia will proceed with the construction of a bridge across half of the Johor Strait has left Singapore scratching its head.

According to Bernama, the republic's Foreign Ministry said it was 'puzzled' by Thursday's New Straits Times report on the matter.

"Singapore is puzzled by the NST (New Straits Times) report. There is an ongoing process in place, agreed to by Singapore and Malaysia, to discuss the bridge and other bilateral issues.

"We are therefore surprised by the NST report that Malaysia has decided to go ahead with the 'scenic bridge' even before the discussions have been concluded," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

Quoting unnamed sources, the newspaper reported that Malaysia was going ahead with plans to build a bridge without demolishing the causeway.

It also reported that work on the bridge - to be known as a 'scenic bridge' instead of the previous no so flattering label of 'crooked bridge' - would begin immediately after the Chinese New Year holidays.

Negotiations will continue

Yesterday, both Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Works Minister S Samy Vellu confirmed that the bridge will be built.

Najib said work would proceed on the bridge although Singapore had yet to provide an affirmative reply.

However, he said negotiations with the republic would continue.

"Negotiations with Singapore are on-going and in the event that we are able to conclude the deal successfully, the scenic bridge can become a full bridge," he was quoted as saying in a news report.

Meanwhile, Samy Vellu said a letter of intent from the government would be issued immediately to Gerbang Perdana, the consortium spearheading the project.

"The foreign minister (Syed Hamid Albar) had written to me, indicating the directive from the prime minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) to commence construction," he added.

Samy Vellu said that everything was in place and work was expected to start as soon as possible. However, the works minister added that the cost of the project had yet to be determined.

Later today, Najib said that any clarification with regard to Malaysia's decision to proceed with a plan to build the bridge will be made through Wisma Putra.

"There is a joint negotiation team between Singapore and Malaysia. So, they can use that as a forum or they can liase directly with Singapore if there is a specific request," he told reporters.

He also brushed aside a suggestion that ties between the two countries would be strained as a result of this latest development.