RM1bil spent on LDP since 1999

The Puchong Jaya interchange on LDP was upgraded in 2004 and again in 2009 to cater to the increasing number of traffic due to rapid development.

CLOSE to RM1bil has been spent on upgrading works and improving the traffic flow of the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) over the years.

Highway concessionaire Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Berhad (Litrak) chief executive officer Sazally Saidi said RM854mil had been spent since they took over in January 1999.

He added that the money was spent on various capacity enhancement projects and on-site traffic management schemes with RM14.7mil spent over four years on enhancement of the toll plazas which benefited about 500,000 commuters.

“The number of fully electronic lanes were increased from 24 lanes in 2004 to 43 lanes in 2013,” he said.

Sazally said RM205.6mil was spent on highway expansion works at 18 locations, mainly at the three rapid growing areas Petaling Jaya (11 projects), Sunway (4) and Puchong (3).

The cost of upgrading of the existing interchanges along Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Puchong Jaya, Puchong Intan and Kampung Baru Puchong, he said, was RM260.4mil.

“We also spent RM373.5mil on capacity enhancement of projects including the construction of new interchanges, flyovers and upgrading works.

“The projects covered areas such as Damansara Perdana-Penchala, Kelana Jaya, PJS7/9, IOI Puchong and Taman Puchong Industri,” he said, adding that RM269.3mil of the amount was spent on other upgrading works along the LDP.

Besides that, Sazally said Litrak had also implemented various on-site traffic management schemes such as switching the four phase junctions to three and also through the introduction of a contra-flow system to reduce traffic congestion.

So far, he said, the schemes were implemented in Petaling Jaya for the PJS north-bound interchange, Puchong Perdana for the Puchong Indah north-bound interchange and Bandar Utama for the TTDI south-bound interchange.

Sazally said LDP had to find a way to accommodate to the rising number of vehicles on the highway.

“Initially there were only 324,000 users on the highway but the number had risen to 2.5 million.

“Eight highways are directly connected to LDP and LDP is an open highway with only four toll plazas,” he said.

Sazally said LDP had more than 200 interchanges, which meant that commuters could enter and exit from numerous points along the 40km-highway without having to pay toll.

“Statistics revealed that a total of 1.85 million commuters did not pay toll while only 600,000 pay toll,” he added.

To date, LDP is the only highway linking Putrajaya and Kepong.

Furthermore, he said, rapid development along the highway had added to the volume of traffic on LDP but there was a lack of space for expansion of the highway.