60 feet wide, sufficient enough for two lines of metre-gauge railway tracks and a 26 foot wide roadway, with space reserved for laying of water mains at a later date. Floodgates were incorporated at the lock to control the tides. The construction contract was awarded to Messrs Topham, Jones & Railton Ltd of London on 30 June 1919. The engineering firm had completed major works at the dockyards and harbour in Singapore, and had necessary work capacity and experience in the area available. The contract allowed the firm a period of 5 years and 3 months to complete the construction. Construction started in August 1919, starting with the lock at Johore's bank. Sequence of construction would allow minimal disruption to existing shipping or ferrying services. On 24 April 1920, a ceremony was held to mark the laying of the foundation stone. The Johore Sultan, Sultan Ibrahim, the newly appointed Governor of Straits Settlements and High Commissioner of the FMS, Sir Laurence Guillemard, his wife among other invited guests graced the ceremony on board Sea Belle, a sea yacht, in the middle of the Straits. The ceremony commenced with prayers and Governor Guillemard was invited to pull a silken cord which activated machinery to empty a load of rubble from a barge into the water. Sirens from the surrounding ships then greeted the now emptied barge. A second barge of rubble was emptied as well with air tolak bala and air doa selamat being poured into the Straits. A gun salute of five rounds fired from Bukit Timbalan marked the end of the ceremony. British Malaya was impacted by the Depression of 1920–21 as she was a primary source for many commodities internationally. The constructions process was thus under intense public scrutiny and criticism. Additionally, the British Admiralty would like to have the locks be widened and deepened to accommodate British warships. However, it was found to be difficult to engineer and was very costly. The FMS and Straits Settlements government thus had considered dropping the project. In January 1923, the lock was open for local sea craft. On 1 October, the partially completed Causeway was officially opened to passenger traffic. The Causeway was officially completed in 1924 when the finishing touches to the lock was done. With an estimated cost 17 million Straits dollars (£277 million in 2000), over 2,300 staff and labourers were employed to during the course of