Proposal that was just too expensive

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FORMER Kampar MP Tan Sri Hew See Tong finds the idea of an interchange at Kampar an impractical one.

He said the cost of having an interchange at the town far outweighed its benefits as it would only shorten the travelling distance between Kampar, Gopeng and Tapah by about 5km.

“In the mid 1990s, during former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s visit to Kampar, I had proposed for an interchange at Sungai Siput Selatan, about 7km from town.

Directions: A signboard near Gua Tempurung showing the location of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

“However, I did not receive a reply from the ex-premier,” Hew told MetroPerak.

Hew said he later understood why his proposal was not taken into consideration after realising that the benefits of having an interchange could not justify its construction cost of an estimated RM60mil then.

“The RM60mil can be put to better use for more substantial projects if it is to be spent on shortening a distance of just a few kilometres,” he said.

Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) administration and human resources division (public relations) deputy director Norhaslinda Abu Yazid said the cost of building an interchange varied between locations due to land acquisition costs.

“The construction cost is borne by either the Government or the highway concessionaire, depending on their respective concession agreement,” she said, adding that the terms were private and confidential.

Norhaslinda said MHA would have to conduct a thorough study on the traffic volume of a particular town or city before it could approve the construction of an interchange.

Although the 966km expressway that linked major cities and towns in the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia is managed by PLUS Expressways Bhd, its corporate communication manager Iskandar Dzulkifli said the concessionaire had no authority to initiate any new interchange projects.

“We can only propose but not carry out such projects,” he said.