Did You Know Malaysia Has A Time Capsule 5 Years Past Its Scheduled Big Reveal?
An extended agreement was signed in 2005 which extends the concession to 2038.
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Five years ago today, a time capsule was due for its big reveal. It was buried by then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the inauguration of the North-South Expressway (NSE) on 8 September 1994.
It contains a document of expiry of the original PLUS Highway concession which is on 31 May 2018, and the date the time capsule was supposed to be opened.
However, this has yet to happen.
The NSE is the longest expressway in the country that began operating in 1994, connecting Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah, close to the Malaysia-Thailand border, to Johor Baru along an 847.7km stretch.
The last segment of the NSE, which covered the Gopeng-Tapah length, was inaugurated by the late Sultan of Perak and Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, on 7 February of the same year.
The NSE started full operations on 8 September, 1994, after more than seven years of phased construction, as reported by New Straits Times.
Currently the time capsule can be seen at the R&R (Rest and Relaxation) Rawang.
So why hasn’t the time capsule been opened?
The short answer is that the concession agreement with PLUS was extended, which simply means 31 May 2018 was no longer the expiry date.
Untuk makluman kapsul ini masih belum dikeluarkan walaupun hari ini genap 5 tahun overdue sebab konsesi lebuh raya dilanjutkan. pic.twitter.com/xuRTvf2qne
— Muhammad Najib (@muhammadnajib79) May 31, 2023
According to a report by the New Straits Times, the concession was extended until December 2038.
An additional concession agreement was signed in 2005 which included the clause of not increasing the toll prices from 2005 to 2014.
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