KUALA LUMPUR, JUL 6: The West Coast Expressway from Banting, Selangor to Taiping, Perak which can shortened the journey north, is now 35% complete and is expected to be opened to traffic in early 2019.
The Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) Director-General, Datuk Ismail Md Salleh said, the construction of the 233 kilometres (KM) highway which was developed since 2014 is broken down into 11 phases and is running smoothly on schedule.
He said, the cost is RM5.04 billion with RM980 million being the cost for land takeovers, handled by West Coast Expressway Sdn Bhd concessionaire.
“Among the routes expected to be opened by 2019 are the one in phase 4, from Jalan Persekutuan to Lebuh Raya Pintas Selat Klang Utara Baru and in phase 8 from Hutan Melintang to teluk Intan,” he said to BERNAMA.
He said, the other routes are also expected to be ready by 2019, except for phase 7B which is the last 10km in Tanjung Karang and phase 11 involving connection to Changkat Jering/Taiping.
He said, the project will be the best alternative route for users to avoid congestion especially during festive season.
“Nevertheless, we will try to open every route by stages and when it is fully completed, this expressway will drive the economy in the west coast areas,” he said.
West Coast Expressway to be opened in 2019
