New highway projects planned for Malaysia

Major highway projects are being planned for Malaysia, to boost transport connectivity. A new toll road has been proposed in Negri Sembilan's Senawang, to connect the Kajang-Seremban Expressway (Lekas) with the North South Expressway (NSE). This has been put forward by the North South Expressway (NSE) operator, PLUS Expressway. The planned toll road would be shorter than the Lekas-NSE stretch by some 3-5km and would cut journey times by bypassing 11 traffic lights between Lekas and the NSE. The aim of the plan is to cut congestion on the NSE and to boost revenue from toll collection. And a tender is being opened for the first 30km stretch of a 73km highway in Kelantan State. The tender will close in February 2014 while the overall value of the project is some US$560 million. Construction of the first stage is expected to commence in May 2014.