West Coast Expressway to boost property industry

The upcoming RM7.07 billion West Coast Expressway (WCE) is expected to spur the growth of key industries in the west coast of Perak and Selangor, according to the New Strait Times.

Beneficiaries include property, tourism and industrial sectors in Sepang and Banting in Selangor; as well as Perak's Pangkor, Taiping and Lenggong.

The WCE is a joint venture project between Kumpulan Europlus Bhd (KEuro) and IJM Corp via WCE Sdn Bhd. It will be constructed on a build-operate-transfer basis, with a concession period of 60 years.

KEuro is already in the final stage of discussions with the government for the construction of the WCE, and the concession agreement could be inked in two months.

Datuk Abdul Hamid Mustapha, Chairman of KEuro, said the construction will take around five years to complete and is expected to start in Q2 2013.

According to CIMB, the WCE will create a direct link between Klang and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport via Banting. This will benefit the industrial areas located between Banting and Shah Alam by providing easy accessibility, which will boost the economic activities in these areas.

The WCE will also further stimulate the property sector at Sepang and Banting in Selangor, since these districts are already undergoing rapid development from established developers.

Property developments in the area include Glomac's upcoming 191.75-acre affordable housing project, and GuocoLand's Sepang International City (SIC), which has a gross development value (GDV) of RM48 billion.

Moreover, WCE will awaken the tourism and industrial sectors of Banting, which is an idyllic town with a population of nearly 50,000. It will also speed up the growth of Perak's tourism industry, particularly in Pangkor, Lenggong and Taiping.

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