"Any major work related to the Causeway, on which also is sited the pipelines supplying water to Singapore, will affect both Singapore and Malaysia in a variety of areas of vital importance to both countries," Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Raymond Lim said.

"This is why Singapore cannot accept that Malaysia has a right to unilaterally replace its side of the causeway with a half-bridge," Lim said.

Malaysia has reportedly already begun construction of its half of the bridge in southern Johor state bordering Singapore, even though its smaller neighbor has not agreed to build the other half.

In Parliament, Lim read out a comment attributed to Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as reported by the New Straits Times newspaper on March 18.

"This is our right. Nobody can question and deny us this right as a sovereign nation. The government is committed to building the bridge," the report cited Najib as saying.

Lim said Singapore was surprised by the comment and that the government has sought clarification from Malaysia, but has yet to receive a reply.

"Such continued public comments on Malaysia's intention to proceed with the half-bridge will not be helpful to the ongoing bilateral negotiations," Lim said.

Malaysia has proposed building a new bridge to replace the one-kilometer causeway connecting the Southeast Asian countries, but Singapore wants the project to be part of a package aimed at resolving all outstanding diplomatic disputes between the neighbors.

More than 100,000 people cross the causeway over the Straits of Johor each day, and Malaysian officials have said a new bridge would ease congestion and boost the flow of traffic between the neighbors.

Officials from both countries met recently, but details of negotiations were not made public.

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