Business Times

KUMPULAN Europlus Bhd said its unit has signed a contract with the Government to build and manage the West Coast Expressway for 33 years at a cost of RM3.02 billion.

The highway spans 215.8km and it will connect the North-South Expressway in Taiping, Perak, to Banting in Selangor, KEuro said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia.

The concession is under Konsortium LPB Sdn Bhd (KLPB), which is 60 per cent owned by KEuro, while the rest is equally shared between Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd and Perak Corp Bhd.

The highway will have 14 toll plazas and 16 interchanges. There will be six toll plazas and seven interchanges in Perak and eight toll plazas and nine interchanges in Selangor.

It will also have 10 rest and service areas and two lay-bys.

Under the deal, KLPB must be able to raise funds to build the Selangor portion by May 25 2008. Funds for the Perak highway must be raised by May 25 2010.

However, KEuro did not give a breakdown of how much the two portions would cost.

KLPB would start construction after it completes fundraising and work for the Selangor portion must be completed in three years.

Work for the Perak portion must be completed in four years after it raises money.

Lee Shi-Ian
New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: He was supposed to be a pirate’s nemesis but instead, he was caught on suspicion of recording the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

A 21-year-old police constable was nabbed by GSC cinema stewards in Berjaya Times Square yesterday. He is believed to have recorded about 30 minutes of the movie on his mobile phone.

The constable, attached to the Dang Wangi police station, had gone to watch the 5.40pm movie with a friend but was spotted behaving suspiciously by alert cinema stewards.

After he was detained, his friend allegedly called for help and a police sergeant arrived at the cinema.

The suspect, however, was handed over to enforcement officers from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry and later taken to the city police headquarters.
He was released on bail pending further investigations. He is also expected to be hauled up before a disciplinary committee.

Stringent measures have been taken by cinemas and authorities to prevent the illegal recording of newly-released movies.

These include installing closed-circuit television cameras in all movie halls, and stewards wearing night vision goggles, similar to those used by military commandos.

City acting police chief SAC I Zulhasnan Najib Baharudin confirmed the incident.