The Lupar Bridge in Malaysia’s Sarawak State, a key Belt and Road Initiative project jointly built by China and Malaysia, has officially opened to traffic. Stretching 4.84 kilometers, it is one of the largest river-crossing bridges in Malaysia. Its opening ends nearly a century of ferry service across the Lupar River, cutting travel time for logistics by nearly half.

The project has been described locally as one of Malaysia’s most challenging engineering feats. The contractor, China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group, adopted an all-water, no-trestle construction method—an approach that completes 90% of the work from floating vessels instead of using temporary land platforms—and successfully overcame the challenges of building on soft foundations.

The Sarawak State government has positioned the bridge as a flagship project of the Coastal Development Corridor. During construction, the project created more than 1,000 local jobs and provided skills training for local workers involved in large-scale infrastructure construction.

“I still can’t believe it’s actually open now,” said one local worker. Another resident added, “We used to wait for ferries to cross the river. Now it’s so much more convenient.”