KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18): The construction of the West Coast Expressway (WCE) from Banting in Selangor to Taiping in Perak is 60% complete and will open in stages starting next year.

Works Minister Baru Bian said the entire WCE project will be completed by 2022, two years later than an initial deadline of April 2020.

"The deferment is due to land acquisition and changes made in the alignment to Section 7 at Tanjong Karang, Selangor," he said today in a parliamentary reply to Member of Parliament (MP) for Sungai Besar Muslimin Yahya, who asked about the progress of WCE.

Baru said the WCE project involves the development of a 313km highway, which is jointly developed by the Public Works Department Malaysia (JKR) and toll concessionaire WCE Holdings Bhd's 80%-owned subsidiary West Coast Expressway Sdn Bhd (WCESB). WCESB holds the concession of the WCE project for 50 years in an agreement signed on Jan 2, 2013.

WCESB is tasked with building 233km of the expressway, starting from Jalan B18 Banting-KLIA to Persimpangan Bertingkat Tanjong Karang for the Selangor portion. For the stretch in Perak, it starts from Jambatan Sungai Bernam in Hutan Melintang and ends near Changkat Jering toll booth of the North-South Expressway (PLUS).

JKR, meanwhile, is responsible to upgrade the existing Jalan Persekutuan 5 (FR5) that spans 81.5km, which comprises the Tanjong Karang to Hutan Melintang, Perak stretch (50km) and the Teluk Intan to Kampung Lekir, Perak stretch (31.5km).

"The cost of construction for the entire WCE project is RM6.54 billion, covering the private sector's package of RM5.04 billion and RM1.5 billion for the JKR part. The closed-system will be implemented for toll collection, where toll charges will only be imposed on usage of new roads built by WCE," said Baru.

"For the FR5 expressway section, it will be toll-free," he said, adding that WCE will have 20 toll booths, of which six will be placed at main routes and the balance at multilevel junctions.

Meanwhile, Baru said the government's policy is very clear that toll abolishment would only be considered when the country's fiscal policy improved.

He told the people not to hold on to the unrealistic dream of toll-free highways.

This was in reply to another parliamentary question by MP for Pasir MasAhmad Fadhli Shaari on the matter that was one of the promises in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.

However, on Oct 12, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has clarified that it was impossible to have highways without the imposition of toll collection as the government needs the revenue to maintain existing roads or build new roads.