North-South Expressway Central Link

Cancelled

In April 1994, the Malaysian government awarded a BOT concession for a link road between the Klang Valley Expressway and a point on the North-South Expressway just north of KL International Airport. The concession went to United Engineers (Malaysia) Berhad, who turned it over to a wholly-owned subsidiary, Expressway Lingkaran Tengah Sdn Bhd (ELITE). Construction of the 48-km highway started in November 1994 and was divided into 3 sections. The first 9.8km section was completed in December 1996, and opened to the public on 16 December. The second, 38km, section opened in October 1997 - seven months ahead of schedule. Construction cost RM1.1 billion (US$430 million). ELITE's performance was highly hindered by the Asian crisis in 1997/98. In July 1999, ELITE defaulted on M$440m floating rate notes, M$400m bonds, and a M$100m bridging loan from Bank Bumiputra. In December 2000, the government approved a soft loan of approximately M$100m to part finance the construction of the Putra Jaya Interchange. In March 2001, the company issued Islamic Bonds with a face of M$1.860bn, M$1.076bn of which was earmarked to repay its debt. The bond has been rated A2 by Rating Agency of Malaysia and is divided into nine tranches. In October 2002, the government extended the concession period by seven years from 2018 to 2025.