KUALA LUMPUR: WCE Holdings Berhad (WCEHB) will focus on completing the West Coast Expressway (WCE) project by the fiscal year 2026 (FY2026), said the company's chief executive officer, Lyndon Alfred Felix.
He said that the WCE, now 94 per cent complete, is poised to be a significant driver of economic growth along the coastal regions of Selangor and Perak.
The expressway is expected to enhance trade, boost local tourism, and foster industrial development, ultimately benefiting the communities along the west coast corridor.
Additionally, its proximity to major ports like Port Klang, Lumut Port, and Penang Port, coupled with its flatter terrain, makes it more suitable for commercial vehicles, Felix noted.
Currently, six out of eleven sections have been opened for traffic, and tolling has commenced. These sections are Section 5 (New North Klang Straits Bypass (NNKSB) – Bandar Bukit Raja Utara), Section 6 (Bandar Bukit Raja Utara – Assam Jawa), Section 8 (Hutan Melintang – Teluk Intan), Section 9 (Kampung Lekir – Changkat Cermin), Section 10 (Changkat Cermin – Beruas), and Section 11 (Beruas – Taping Selatan).
"We are optimistic that the upcoming opening of Sections 1 and 2 will contribute to our traffic growth," he said in a statement that was issued after the company's shareholders meeting today.
Section 1, the Banting-South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE) route, is scheduled to open on August 30, 2024, and the Section 2 SKVE-Shah Alam Expressway (KESAS) is targeted to be opened in the third quarter of FY2025, he said.
Felix said that WCE serves as an important alternative route to alleviate congestion on existing roads and is also a key connector to other highways such as SKVE, KESAS, and the Federal Highway.
He said that the opening of Section 6 and Section 11 in November 2023 and March 2024, respectively, have significantly amplified WCE's daily traffic volume, whereby sectional average daily traffic for the first quarter of FY2025 increased by a significant 115 per cent compared to the preceding year quarter.
He noted that in the recent Raya festive period in April, the traffic volume achieved 350,000 sectional average daily traffic, representing a substantial 150 per cent surge from the previous record of 140,000 in December 2023.
"Currently our Section ADT is approximately 120,000 and monthly toll revenue is around RM10 million," he said.
The WCE project, a build-operate-transfer (BOT) privatisation initiative, involves developing a 320 km highway (including 83 km of toll-free sections of Federal Route 5 upgraded by Jabatan Kerja Raya), connecting Banting in Selangor to Taiping in Perak along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.