Four new highways to be announced in Budget 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: Four new tolled highways have been proposed for the peninsula and are likely to be announced during the Budget 2011 speech on Friday.

The Edge Financial Daily learned that of the four, one road is already in existence while the other three will be new alignments of existing roads, or roads that are in the process of being built.

It is understood that PLUS Expressways Bhd would be the concession operator of two of the roads, while Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) would run the other two.

The highways to be operated by PLUS are from Sungai Dua to Juru in Penang, and from Kinrara to Damansara in the Klang Valley, while the PNB-operated highways are said to be from Ampang to Cheras, and from Damansara to Sungai Buloh.

It is learned that a bypass or upgrading is being considered for the Sungai Dua-Juru road, which sees heavy traffic flow and is presently a toll-free road.

According to sources, the upgrading of the road could involve the broadening of the lanes to facilitate smoother flow of traffic, but the cost of the upgrading is not known.

Meanwhile, the other three proposed toll roads are new alignments and seek to alleviate traffic woes plaguing road-users in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur.

The Kinrara-Damansara stretch would serve to divert some of the traffic from the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP), while the Cheras-Ampang highway may see upgrading works.

It is also said that the Damansara-Sungai Buloh stretch could see a new highway or bypass being built.

Infrastructure project rollouts are expected to be a key focus of Budget 2011, according to UOB Kay Hian Research.

The construction sector is poised to be the key beneficiary of the budget proposals despite lower development expenditure, it said.

There are presently 22 toll road concessionaires in the country.

Investors have of late kept a close eye on these operators following proposals by three parties — MMC Corp Bhd, Asas Serba Sdn Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) — to acquire PLUS, which is the largest concessionaire and largest listed toll expressway operator in Southeast Asia.

While Asas Serba is said to be looking to consolidate all of the country’s concessionaires, EPF is understood to be eyeing only PLUS, while MMC is said to be after PLUS as well via its acquisition of PLUS’ parent UEM Group Bhd, which is in turn owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

Khazanah is the single largest shareholder in PLUS, with 2.76 billion shares or a 55.24% stake, followed by EPF with 613.47 million shares representing a 12.27% stake. Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) is the third largest shareholder with a 5.78% stake.

PLUS closed at RM4.16 last Friday with 5.91 million shares done.