Johor submits proposal to expand highway

Fazli (right) visiting one of the booths at BCI Equinox Johor Baru.

THE tabling of Budget 2023 this October is expected to bring good news to the people of Johor on the North-South Expressway (NSE) expansion project.

State works, transportation and infrastructure committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the Johor government has submitted a proposal on the project to the Federal Government.

“We categorised the project as ‘high-impact’, generating economic spillover effects to Johor.

“Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi brought up the matter during his meeting with Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz,” Fazli told StarMetro after opening the BCI Equinox Johor Baru.

He said Onn Hafiz also conveyed Johor’s wishes to see the project take place after meeting with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

Fazli said the project was announced in April 2018 as part of Barisan Nasional’s election manifesto for Johor.

The expansion project, which would cover the 102km Yong Peng-Johor Baru stretch and end at Senai Utara along the NSE, did not materialise after Barisan was defeated in the general election.

“We look forward to the upgrading of the stretch to six lanes from the current four,” he said.

Fazli said it would be developed in three phases with Phase One stretching from Yong Peng to Senai Utara, Phase Two from Senai to Kempas and the Jasin-Yong Peng stretch under Phase Three.

Similarly, he hoped the Senai-Desaru Expressway (SDE) would also be upgraded from the current two lanes to four lanes under Budget 2023, as a way to further boost tourism activities in Desaru.

He said the 77km SDE, which opened in June 2011, was also important for oil and gas-related activities in the Pengerang petrochemical complex.