By Amar Shah Mohsen
SHAH ALAM, Dec 6 — The government has no intention of upgrading the Federal Highway, the country’s busiest highway, in the near future to address the traffic congestion issue.
Instead, Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the focus will be placed on encouraging commuters to utilise public transportation like rail services as an alternative to driving along the same route.
“The ministry does not plan to upgrade the highway for now due to its cost and social impact.
“For your information, no upgrading works and construction of new infrastructure also took place between 2018 and 2023 under this ministry,” he said in a written Parliamentary reply to Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung.
According to Nanta, the only works being done to the 36.09km highway — which connects the capital city of Kuala Lumpur to Klang, Selangor, and runs through several major cities and towns — are for maintenance purposes.
From 2018 to 2022, the Works Ministry allocated RM24.69 million for scheduled pavement and non-pavement maintenance, alongside maintenance on other infrastructure like bridges and traffic and street lights.
For this year, he said RM2.59 million was allocated until October for various maintenance works.
“As for 2024, the concession company appointed to maintain Federal roads will identify damaged roads along the Federal Highway before the Public Works Department (JKR) provides the estimated funds required for the repair works.
“However, approval for the works will be subject to the allocation approved by the Finance Ministry, as well as based on the priority list decided by JKR,” Nanta said.
Lee had sought clarification on the total allocation spent for the maintenance, upgrading, and new infrastructure along the Federal Highway from 2018 to 2023, as well as the ministry’s plans for the next five years to address traffic congestion there.
The Federal Highway was originally upgraded from the former Kuala Lumpur-Klang Highway to connect the city centre to Port Klang following Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965,
as the country sought to make Port Klang its new national port.
The upgrading of the road to a full motorway made the Federal Highway Malaysia’s first expressway. It is also known for being the first highway to have motorcycle lanes.
The highway was originally a four-lane highway before it was fully upgraded to six lanes in 1992.
