Completion of Malaysia’s West Coast Expressway hits a snag over land dispute in Klang

KLANG – A land dispute in Klang, near Malaysia’s largest port, is stalling the completion of a highway touted as an alternative to the North-South Expressway that connects the Thai and Singapore borders.

The continued delay to the West Coast Expressway (WCE) has led to longer travel time for heavy vehicles and threatens to undermine investor confidence in Malaysia’s ability to deliver infrastructure projects on schedule, said the Association of Malaysian Hauliers on Sept 26.

Announced in 2012 with an estimated cost of RM7.07 billion (S$2.16 billion), the WCE aims to connect major coastal towns along Peninsular Malaysia from Banting in Selangor to Taiping in Perak.

Originally slated for completion by 2019, the highway was intended to ease congestion on the North-South Expressway and boost links to Port Klang, one of the busiest container terminals in South-east Asia.

But the project has missed several completion deadlines, partly because of land acquisition issues. While the 233km highway is about 95 per cent complete and in operation, it is still not fully ready because of an unresolved fight over a 150m stretch of land in Kampung Jawa, a village in Klang district.

Although this is the only land dispute linked to the WCE that is unresolved, another section of the highway – around 30km long – is also yet to be completed because of soft soil conditions. The highway is now expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

The dispute centres on some 1.8ha of land in Kampung Jawa. While the federal government has acquired the land, 19 landowners are contesting the compensation offered to them.

Just across the main road from Kampung Jawa, the half-built WCE has a flyover that rises before ending abruptly in mid-air. Roadworks are ongoing along the main road nearby.

Mr Chandra Kumar, 41, a digital product trainer at a bank, said his 82-year-old father bought their family’s 10,500 sq ft plot in the village in 1968. He said the family home and a storeroom on their land were demolished by contractors on June 2, 2025, destroying equipment and other items. Tenants who had been living in the house were forced to move out just before the demolition.

“I have already moved out of my family home, but the compensation offered is not enough to buy a new property nearby,” he told The Straits Times. According to his lawyer, Mr R. Kengadharan, RM5.2 million in total has been allotted to the 19 landowners.

Based on checks online, prices for new developments such as Alam Impian, located about a six-minute drive away, start from about RM700,000 for a two-storey terraced house.

Some 16 houses next to Mr Chandra’s land remained occupied when ST visited the village in September. Their residents refused to move after rejecting what they said was inadequate compensation.

In 2015, the Selangor state government issued its first notice of acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act. A second notice was issued in 2021 after the first lapsed.

Valuers appointed by the residents in 2021 estimated the land’s worth at RM32 million. But following a formal land hearing on Sept 30, 2023, the Selangor Land and Mines Office awarded a much lower compensation of RM9.8 million. Of this amount, RM5.2 million was allotted to the 19 landowners, who now seek higher compensation.

The company behind the WCE, West Coast Expressway Sdn Bhd, said 75 per cent of the total compensation amounting to RM7.4 million has been disbursed, with 14 landowners receiving direct payments and 19 others opting for the payment to be channelled through their lawyers.

It argued that once 75 per cent of the compensation has been paid, the “landowners no longer have legal rights to occupy the land”.

But Mr Kengadharan, who represents the 19 landowners, told ST that “the disparity between the official award and the independent valuation is grossly disproportionate and fails to reflect prevailing market realities, particularly given the escalating property values in the surrounding Klang corridor”.

The case is now scheduled to go before the Shah Alam High Court in January, where the home owners have appealed for a higher payout.

While the dispute drags on, it is beginning to affect key industries.

On Sept 26, the Association of Malaysian Hauliers said the delay is disrupting the flow of heavy vehicles from north to south, including deliveries to Port Klang.

“Every day, thousands of heavy vehicles, including container trucks, are still forced to use alternative routes... This not only worsens congestion but also raises safety risks, particularly when heavy vehicles are forced to share crowded roads with regular users,” said its executive secretary, Mr Mohamad Azuan Masud.

“As a result, travel times are longer, fuel costs soar and accident risks increase. Ultimately, these factors further inflate logistics costs, which will cascade into higher prices of essential goods for the public,” he said.

Land disputes not uncommon

Disputes such as the one over Kampung Jawa are not rare in Malaysia, where compulsory land acquisitions frequently trigger valuation challenges that drag on in court. These spats can also be racially and politically sensitive.

In 2018, the relocation of a 147-year-old Hindu temple in Subang Jaya, Selangor, sparked violent protests.

In Kampung Sungai Baru in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, where land has been acquired for a luxury condominium project,

the dispute between several home owners and a project developer

over compensation has become both racially and politically charged.

The affected home owners are Malay, and critics have framed the project as favouring private developers. Some owners are also unhappy over the land acquisition process, which they say lacks transparency.

The opposition has seized on the project as evidence that a proposed urban renewal law will grant developers excessive powers to force home sales once a consent threshold is met, eroding individual property rights.

“Land acquisition is always a sensitive issue because it touches on property rights, livelihood and public interest,” Mr Z. Ali, a senior lawyer familiar with land matters, told ST.

“Primarily, there are disagreements over the amount of compensation awarded to the landowners. And there are cases where there is a wide gap between the market value of the land as stated in a registered valuer report and the government valuation report.”

Many disputes arise from perceptions of unfairness and inadequate compensation, he noted. Reforms, thus, need to include a fairer and more transparent compensation mechanism, adequate time and compensation for relocation of landowners, legal aid for those who cannot afford lawyers, as well as resettlement areas with equivalent or better facilities.

For cases of land acquisition involving economic development or industrial projects, he argued that compensation should be set at a more equitable rate, possibly up to twice the market value of the land.

“This is justified as the developer stands to gain more profit,” he added.