The entire Barelang region covers 715 square kilometres (276 sq mi).

[1] Some locals call the bridge Jembatan Habibie after Jusuf Habibie, who oversaw the project in construction, aiming to transform the Rempang and Galang islands into industrial sites (resembling present-day Batam).

Habibie had requested that the designs should be based on a variation of different structural bridge types, in order to introduce & develop new bridge design & building technologies for the Indonesian market.

Over time the bridge sites have grown more into a tourist attraction rather than just a transportation route.

Construction of the bridges started in 1992 and took names from fifteenth to eighteenth-century rulers of the Riau Sultanate.