PAN ISLAND EXPRESSWAY (Completion date)

Mr Ng Kah Ting asked the Minister for National Development and Communications when the Pan Island Expressway which is being built in parts and stages will be completed and at what cost.

Mr Lim Kim San: Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Punggol is correct when he says that the Pan Island Expressway is being built in parts and stages. I can give him the progress to date, and they are as follows:-

The section from Jalan Eunos to Whitley Road, which includes Paya Lebar Way and Jalan Toa Payoh, has been completed However, a flyover at Woodsville has yet to be constructed, but financial provision for this has been included in the development programme for 1977.

The section from Whitley Road to Adam Road is expected to be completed around the end of 1977.

The section from Adam Road to Jalan Anak Bukit was recently opened to traffic.

Construction work is in progress on parts of the eastward extension of the Expressway from Jalan Eunos to the East Coast Parkway in Changi. It is expected that this section of the Expressway will be completed by 1 980.

The last section of the Expressway, which is its westward extension from Jalan Anak Bukit to Jalan Boon Lay in Jurong, is in the final stages of design and the first contracts on this section will be awarded in 1977. It is also hoped that this section will be completed by 1980.

The middle section of the Pan Island Expressway from Jalan Eunos to Jalan Anak Bukit will therefore be completed by the end of 1977. But the whole length of the Expressway from Changi to Jurong will only be completed by 1980.

The cost of civil works of the completed sections of the Expressway to date amounts to $33 million. The remaining sections will cost a further $117 million to construct. The total cost of civil works for the whole length of the Pan Island Expressway, therefore. amounts to $150 million.