However, this one miscalculation while drawing up a skybridge in Sabah was not only expensive, but it doesn't make any sense as well.

A lengthy project

On Friday (3 September), Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor officially launched the pedestrian Sky Bridge that connects Asia City, Center Point Shopping Mall, and Api-Api Centre in Kota Kinabalu.

According to The Star, the swanky new Sky Bridge, which reportedly costs RM31.5 million to build (we'll get to why we said it was RM64 million in a bit), was finally completed after a three-year delay because the developer of the project went bankrupt.

Earlier this year, Hajiji allocated another RM4.7 million from the state government's coffers to complete the pedestrian bridge.

The injection of funds worked, as the Sky Bridge will be open for public use starting Thursday (9 September).

However, it did not take an eagle-eyed Malaysian long to notice something wrong with the expensive Sky Bridge: the part of the bridge that links to the Center Point Shopping Mall apparently leads to a dead end.

Yikes!

'Kena lompat sendiri'

Skybridge 31.5juta Sabah.Turun nak pegi mall, kena lompat sendiri pegi bawah.? pic.twitter.com/AVSVk3idoS

— Al-Rashid Zulkefli? (@AlRashidZulkefl) September 5, 2021

Twitter user @AlRashidZulkefl spotted the boo-boo and uploaded the pictures onto the social media site, where they instantly went viral.

In the pictures, it can be clearly seen that the pathway that leads to the shopping center was built right up to the side of the mall - with no entrance or a staircase leading down in sight.

Here's what it looks like:

Here's a close-up shot of the bridge:

And if you're still not convinced, here's a picture from underneath the bridge that clearly shows that there's nowhere you can go once you reach the end of the walkway:

Just to double confirm, we turn to Google Maps to see if we can find the Sky Bridge and verify, with our own eyes, if the allegations were true.

True enough, we did manage to spot the dead end of the bridge using Google Streetview in a picture taken in February 2019.

Basically, it means that they had more than two years to build a staircase at the end of the walkway, but they just chose not to.

So, what happens if you accidentally took this branch and walked over 400 meters thinking you'll reach the mall, but you reach this dead end instead?

Well, there are only two options: 1) you jump down and pray that you don't break your ankles, or 2) you turn around, walk another 400 meters more, take an escalator down to the street opposite of the mall and then cross said street through oncoming traffic.

That kinda defeats the purpose of the Sky Bridge, doesn't it?

Costs more than reported?

If that wasn't mind-boggling enough, the same Twitter user managed to dig up old documents dating back to 2019 which shows that the Sky Bridge costs more than the RM31.5 million that was reported.

The document, dated 6 November 2019, revealed that the previous state government had allocated RM60 million for the Sky Bridge, and they needed an additional RM4 million more to complete it.

Wait.Handsard Parlimen bertarikh 6 Nov 2019, MP Kota Kinabalu mendedahkan RM60juta sudah diluluskan oleh kerajaan terdahulu(UMNO/BN), baki tak siap pula sepatutnya RM4juta.Awal tahun, GRS suntik RM4.7juta. Hajiji rasmi projek, umum kos RM31.5juta???? Mana pegi 20juta lain???? pic.twitter.com/10gMdn0B20

— Al-Rashid Zulkefli? (@AlRashidZulkefl) September 5, 2021

So, if the cost to complete the Sky Bridge project was indeed RM31.5 million as reported, the multi-million ringgit question is: where did the rest of the money go?

Maybe the money was spent on some cloaking technology that hides the entrance to the Avengers' new HQ located at the end of the deadend walkway? Who knows?