SELETAR EXPRESSWAY (Construction of link between Yio Chu Kang Road and Mandai Road)

Dr Koh Lip Lin asked the Minister for National Development when construction work on the proposed Seletar Expressway linking Yio Chu Kang Road and Mandai Road will begin and when will it be completed.

Mr Lee Yock Suan (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, the proposed Seletar Expressway is part of the island-wide expressway network to be built by the Public Works Department in the next 10 years. It is a northward extension of the Central Expressway. It will stretch from Yio Chu Kang Road in the south to the Bukit Timah Expressway near Woodlands New Town in the north.

The construction of the Seletar Expressway will only commence after the completion of the northern stretch of the Central Expressway from Jalan Toa Payoh to Yio Chu Kang (formerly called the Sembawang Expressway). Part of the Central Expressway between Jalan Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 is nearing completion and will be opened to traffic by the end of this month. Construction of the other part from Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 to Yio Chu Kang Road will commence in late 1984 and will be completed by late 1987. The implementation of the Seletar Expressway project can therefore be expected to be undertaken in the late 1980s. However, as detailed design for this new expressway has yet to commence, it is too early to determine its exact implementation schedule.