The bridge is 319 metres (nearly 2 miles) in length and 19 metres high (62 ft) which probably isn't anything special for a bridge and replaced the existing ferry opening in 2001. The reason this bridge is so controversial is that it took nearly 10 years of political and legal wrangling to get approval due to a dispute with the indigenous people. Some sections of the indigenous people claimed the land where the bridge was to go on the island was sacred to the women of their culture and the argument became known as "Secret Womens Business". To this day there are still disputes as to whether the claim was valid however the courts and government of the day allowed the bridge to go ahead.