The West Ipoh Span Expressway (WISE) has secured RM5.55 billion in funding, said Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad, reported New Straits Times.
The Perak menteri besar said that he has been informed by WISE representatives saying that funding has been secured from a bank, and that work related to land acquisition has already started.
“Previously, we said the project was held up because they had not secured a funder. Now that the funding issue has been resolved and the sukuk has been issued, based on the report we have, I think the project can proceed,” he continued.
In November 2024, the WISE was reported to be planned for a length of 60.88 km from Gopeng to Kuala Kangsar, bypassing the PLUS North South Highway’s Menora Tunnel. This was estimated at the time to cost RM6.2 billion, according to project concessionaire East Coast Road (ECR).
As the project is a private finance initiative (PFI), the government will bear no cost and public funds will not be used. At the time, the toll rate for the WISE project was said to be 23 sen per km over the entire 55-year concession period, which includes the four-year construction period.
The Perak state government approved the proposal for the bypass road in 2022, which is also described as an effort to reduce the risk of deadly accidents.
The WISE project faced several delays since it was approved by the Cabinet in 2023, due to financing issues and other conditions that had to be fulfilled before construction could begin, according to the report.
New highways cannot compete on tolls charged by NSE as it is heavily subsidised. New highways are not.
By now entire stretch from KL to ipoh should be three lanes. In johore it took the Agung to get NSE to build three lane highway from kulai to JB. The highway operators can’t be bothered if highway congested. They still get their money.
some stretches of NSE dont even have lights . imagine that. 30 years after being built.
Highway Highway Highway, buat la high-speed train
soon 6 MYR = 1USD
thats ironic because MYR had been streghtening against USD starting from year 2024, and is projected to appreciate even more next year.
If you can bear the tix price of high speed train, why not right? It is not gonna be cheap though. Even ETS tix price from JB to KL already expensive, let alone the high speed train.
It’s 2026 and we’re still building 2-lane highways. If you’re starting from scratch might as well make it 3-lane, if not 4. each direction. Sure it’ll cost more but adding lanes 30 years later would hurt even more. The sheer lack of foresight seems to carry on decade after decade.
You had a good point , they should build 4 lanes as you said as traffic has no history of reducing but Surges more, this would slso help Alleviate north bound load
Watch out for rogue motorcyclists as they will dismantle the highway perimeters fence creates shortcut adjacent to residential road. The famous hotspot is situated below Persiaran Surian bypass bridge between NKVE and Jalan PJU 3/29.
PDRM should more often cracked down all this criminal bikers, its really annoying and irritating….should also impose heavy penalties including jail.