IPOH: The concessionaire of the West Coast Expressway (WCE) has confirmed that only one of three packages of the West Coast Expressway (WCE) in Perak will be accessible to road users before Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
WCE Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Neoh Soon Hiong said the stretch between Hutan Melintang and Teluk Intan or Section 8 was 97 per cent completed and it was the only stretch that could be opened before Hari Raya on June 5.
The other two packages which cover the stretch from Lekir to Changkat Melintang (Section 9) and from Changkat Chermin to Beruas (Section 10), will only be opened about one or two months after Hari Raya.
“There is still much that needs to be done and we can’t open it halfway just for the Hari Raya rush.
“The safety of motorists is our priority,” he told the New Straits Times today.
In a statement earlier, WCE said the opening date for the expressway would be announced by the government soon.
It said inspection of Section 8 had been done by the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) and covered all aspects of the physical completion of the highway.
“The inspectors found that section 8 has adhered to the conditions stipulated by MHA can be opened to road users pending gazettement,” WCE said in the statement.
Neoh had previously said that WCE would do its best to ensure the expressway would be ready by the end of this month.
He said progress on Section 9 and Section 10 was 95 per cent and 96 per cent respectively, and both sections are expected to be opened after Hari Raya.
However, Neoh said Section 8 would be opened without two of its rest and recreation areas (R&Rs).
“There are six R&R areas in all three packages in Perak and, at this moment, these areas have yet to be developed as we are focusing on completing the road works.
“The R&Rs will only be ready about a month after Hari Raya,” he said.
The R&R areas are south of the Teluk Intan Interchange, south of the Changkat Cermin Interchange and south of the Taiping South Interchange.
The facilities available at these R&R areas are food and beverage outlets, public toilets, public information counter, parking areas, public telephone booths, children’s playground, surau, emergency medical or first aid service, Touch ’n Go (TNG) Card Sale and reload services, drive-through counter, petrol and service stations and vehicle workshop.
Checks at the R&Rs recently showed that workers were still flattening the land while in Changkat Chermin Exit, the washrooms had been built but other work was still ongoing.
The 223km WCE stretches from Jalan Banting-KLIA (B18) to the Tanjong Karang interchange (93.8km) in Selangor and from Jalan Persekutuan (FR5) in Hutan Melintang to the Changkat Jering Plaza Toll (139.2km) in Perak.
The three packages in Perak cover Hutan Melintang to Teluk Intan (19.1km), Lekir to Changkat Chermin (28km) and Changkat Chermin to Beruas (16.6km).
The Selangor package only involves the northern side of the state.
Once the expressway is ready, it will only take 45 minutes to travel from Klang to Sekinchan in Selangor, and about an hour from Kuala Lumpur to Manjung, Perak.