RM2.1b Karak Highway, LPT1 widening project starts in Jan 2025 – Gombak to Bentong, new tunnel, 4 years

Things will get worse before it gets better. That’s a line from Tan Sri Azmil Khalili Khalid, chairman of the AFA Group. Formerly known as Anih Berhad, AFA is the concessionaire for the KL-Karak Highway and Lebuhraya Pantai Timur (LPT) 1. He said that in a media briefing today on the Karak Highway widening project, asking for patience from motorists for the next four years.

If you haven’t already heard, the KL-Karak Highway and LPT1, which connects Klang Valley to the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, will be widened all the way from Gombak to Bentong. The RM2.1 billion project will be starting in January 2025 and the project will take 48 months, or four years to complete. That’s the ‘pain’ Azmil was referring to, but from what we learned today, it will be worth the wait.

Over the years, traffic has been getting heavier on the Karak/LPT1, and the congestion during weekends, and especially during festivals, is bad, to put it mildly. The need for an expansion is there, and AFA Group is spearheading this project without using public funds. Will there be an increase in toll fares? Azmil says he hopes so, but ultimately it’s in the hands of the government.

To add a lane all the way from Gombak to Bentong is a huge undertaking when you consider the terrain involved – up and down the mountain range, with a tunnel too. In a nutshell, the current dual three-lanes from the Gombak toll plaza to Genting Sempah will be upgraded to dual four-lanes, which means four lanes on each side, equivalent to a 25% capacity increase for each direction.

At present, it’s two lanes on each side from Genting Sempah to the Bentong toll plaza – this will be upgraded to three. There won’t be extra lanes for the Genting Sempah tunnel, which first part (Kuantan-KL) was completed in 1978 and second part (KL-Kuantan) opened in 1996. Instead, this project will include a brand new tunnel, built 30 metres to the left of today’s eastbound tunnel.

We were told that with three tunnels, two can be used for one particular direction when it’s super busy, say eastbound during the balik kampung exodus. When Hari Raya holidays come to an end, two tunnels can be used for westbound traffic. With an ‘extra player’ in the mix, maintenance works can also be done more easily without any disruption.

Speaking of disruptions, AFA Group’s senior VP Vijayaraj Govindarajoo says that there will be no lane closures throughout this project, which is surprising considering the challenges involved. Instead, they will make do with the emergency lane, but the group’s engineering chief acknowledged that once they put up cones/barriers, motorists will automatically slow down and there’s bound to be more congestion.

Aside from an extra lane from Gombak to Bentong and the new tunnel, AFA Group says that the improved Karak/LPT1 will feature enhancements such as a three-metre wide shoulder a.k.a. emergency lane. Apparently, such a wide shoulder is uncommon for hilly highways, and this will improve safety.

Another aspect that will improve safety for users is that the Karak/LPT1 will be fully lighted up – currently, only the first half of the stretch has lights.

Those are the improvements that we can see. Those that are not visible, but no less vital, include slope stabilisation works, extending existing vehicular box culverts as required, upgrading drainage systems to prevent flooding, relocating and reinstalling road furniture, and traffic management during the construction phase. By the way, there will also be no land acquisition for this project, as the extra lane will still be within the highway’s boundaries.

If you’re someone who travels between the Klang Valley and East Coast often, you’ll surely welcome this upgrade and recognise that it’s a massive undertaking in terms of engineering and geography. In the meantime, let’s bersusah-susah dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian in 2029.

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