MOTORISTS in Sunway will soon see traffic congestion reduced by 80 percent, thanks to a corporate social responsibility (CSR) effort.

The RM130 million project of three major road upgrades, two of which  are already under way, is undertaken by Sunway Group.

Group chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah said  the project would be completed in three phases. The project, he added,  was initiated to resolve the traffic problem in the township.

The first phase involves the build-ing of access link roads from Shah Alam Expressway (Kesas) to the group's housing estate development Sunway South Quay and vice versa. Construction of the link roads, which  began end of last year and is expected to be ready by year end, costs RM40 million.

The second phase of the project involves the widening of lanes. The five-lane stretch of the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) from the front of Sunway Pyramid shopping centre to the Subang Jaya 3C Complex, and the subsequent two lanes after the 3C complex, will be widened with two more lanes in both areas.

The project, which will start in June, costs RM20 million and will take 18 months to complete.

The third phase of the project, costing RM70 million, is the building of an elevated highway above the monsoon drain reserve behind the factories in Jalan PJS 11/1.  Work will start next year.

"The road upgrading will help resolve the traffic issues in Sunway and surrounding areas like Subang Jaya and USJ," said Cheah, adding that the three projects were welcomed by the government and the highway authority.

He said the Malaysian Highway Authority and Petaling Jaya City Council would also build several U-turns to help ease traffic flow there.

The first U-turn at Persiaran Tujuan is elevated. The second U-turn will be before the Sunway toll on Kesas highway. The project undertaken by the Malaysian Highway Authority is expected to start next month.

The third U-turn will be built at the slip road turning into PJS 5 from the NPE.