KUALA LUMPUR: If the West Coast Expressway is built and opened in stages, it will not be the first expressway in the country to be completed in such a manner.
Many may not know, or even remember, but the North-South Expressway (NSE) was built and opened in stages, beginning in the 1980s.
The finished “product” was only launched more than a decade after construction began.
In the late 1970s, severe congestion along Federal Route 1, from Perlis to the southern tip of the peninsula, prompted the government to propose the construction of a divided highway running parallel to it.
The large costs involved in the project meant it would have to be privatised and tolled.
However, due to economic uncertainties at the time, private companies invited to bid for the project were unwilling to do so and the plan was shelved.
It was not until Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took over as prime minister in the 1980s that new life was breathed into the project.
The plan was for NSE to be completed in stages, with each stage opened once completed to fund the next phase of construction.
Construction from 1982 was undertaken by the Malaysian Highway Authority before being transferred to Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Bhd (PLUS) in 1988.
The first stage was the construction of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Highway, which was opened on June 16, 1982. It was the first expressway to implement the closed toll, or ticketing, system.
This was followed by the Jitra-Bukit Kayu Hitam section in 1985, then the Seberang Jaya-Perai section, which was constructed as part of the Penang Bridge project, the same year.
In 1987, the Ipoh-Changkat Jering and Senawang-Ayer Keroh sections were opened.
After the NSE project was privatised in 1988, construction continued at a quicker pace. The first section completed by PLUS was the Ayer Keroh-Pagoh section in 1989, followed by Gurun-Sungai Petani (1991), Rawang-Tanjung Malim and Pagoh-Yong Peng (1992).
In 1993, the Yong Peng-Machap section was opened to the public, followed by Tapah-Tanjung Malim and Sedenak-Skudai sections.
Also that year, the New Klang Valley Expressway was opened, connecting major cities in the Klang Valley to the northern route of NSE.
The NSE was officially declared open by Dr Mahathir on Sept 8, 1994.