KUALA LUMPUR: The West Coast Expressway is 93 per cent completed as at March this year and has cost WCE Holdings Bhd an additional RM681.7 million in infrastructure developnent expenditure (IDE).
Cumulatively up to March 31 this year, the concessionaire had incurred a total IDE of RM6.87 billion.
"To-date, the percentage of the overall completion of the construction of the project is 93 per cent, underscoring our commitment to infrastructure advancement," WCE Holdings said in its 2024 annual report.
WCE Holdings opened two additional sections for traffic during the year, namely Section 6 (Bandar Bukit Raja Utara-Assam Jawa) in November 2023 and Section 11 (Beruas-Taiping Selatan) in March 2024.
Section 6 commenced toll collection on Jan 3 this year.
Currently, six out of 11 sections of the project are operational. Besides Section 6 and Section 11.
Others that are in operations are Section 5 (NNKSB-Bandar Bukit Raja Utara), Section 8 (Hutan Melintang-Teluk Intan), Section 9 (Kampung Lekir-Changkat Cermin) and Section 10 (Changkat Cermin-Beruas).
WCE Holdings said the completion of Section 11 signified the full completion of the Perak alignment, spanning 120km within the WCE Project, thus facilitating improved traffic flow and region integration.
The Perak alignment has connected five districts in Perak namely Bagan Datuk Hilir Perak, Perak Tengah, Manjung and Larut, Matang and Selama.
"We believe WCE will play a crucial role in the west coast corridor, connecting small towns and fostering economic growth for local communities."
The company aims to open other sections, Section 1 (Banting-SKVE) and Section 2 (SKVE-KESAS) in the near term.
The remaining three sections namely Section 3, Section 4 and Section 7 are targeted for completion in 2026.
WCE Holdings said traffic volume on the operational sections had witnessed steady growth, with an increase of 37 per cent from financial year 2023 (FY24).
Following the openings of Section 6 and Section 11 during FY24, the company recorded a spike in the sectional average daily traffic to about 100,000 as compared to 62,000 previously.
"Additionally, during the recent Raya festive period in April 2024, the traffic volume achieved a peak at 350,000 sectional average daily traffic, marking a huge 150 per cent surge from the previous record in December 2023 of 140,000 sectional average daily traffic."
WCE Holdings expects a further increase once the additional two sections are operational in the near term.
For the full year ended March 31, 2024 (FY2024), the highway concessionaire reported a net loss of RM119.4 million, compared to a net profit of RM97.3 million in FY2023.
The loss was attributed to higher interest costs for completed sections of WCE and the absence of gains from certain divestment.
Its revenue for FY24 increased 23 per cent year-on-year to RM623.1 million from RM506.8 million in FY23 driven by higher construction activity and toll collection revenue.