West Coast Express concession to be signed in 2 months (3565)

KUALA LUMPUR: Kumpulan Europlus Bhd expects the concession agreement to build the West Coast Expressway costing RM7.07bil will be signed in two months, its Chairman Datuk Abdul Hamid Mustapha said.

"We are in the final round of discussions with the authorities to get some understanding before we sign the agreement," he told reporters after the company's AGM on Tuesday.

Abdul Hamid said construction of the 316Km expressway from Banting to Taiping would start in the second quarter of next year after the fund-raising exercise has been completed.

He said 224Km would be tolled and 92Km toll-free. The expressway will take five years to complete.

On financing, he said the shareholders' portion would amount to RM1.0bil while the rest would come from loans, including a government loan of RM2.24bil and commercial loan.

"We will construct the Selangor portion first, which is going to take three years, and then do the Perak side," he said.

He said the project would start to contribute to the company's revenue and profit in 2014 financial year, adding it would generate construction revenue in the first five years while the toll revenue would start to come in after the five-year period.

Kumpulan Europlus posted a pre-tax profit of RM29mil for the financial year ended Jan 31, 2012 compared with a pre-tax loss of RM46mil previously.

Revenue declined to RM20mil from RM28mil a year ago due to lower billings from the construction division as projects had reached the tail-end. - Bernama