Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah (centre) speaks during a press conference following Prolintas' listing. (Photo by Shahrill Basri/The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 25): Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (PLKH), the major shareholder of newly-listed Prolintas Infra Business Trust, has yet to decide whether to inject two more highways under its belt into the listed business trust.

Both the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE) and Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (DASH) are still in early stages of their operations, PLKH chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Azlan Abdullah said at a press conference following the listing of Prolintas.

"It's a bit too early for now. They have to meet certain criteria before either one or those two can be injected into the trust. It is [about] timing and also the performance of the two highways, and how it is going to move forward into the future," he said.

DASH was fully opened to the public on October 14, 2022 while SUKE was opened in phases, with phase one beginning on Sep 15, 2022 and phase two on June 16, 2023, while the final section was opened on Oct 19, 2023.

Prolintas Infra currently has four highways — the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway, Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Lebuhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam and Sistem Lingkaran Lebuhraya Kajang, with an average remaining concession period of about 32 years.

For PLKH, the main considerations for the injection into the business trust are steady traffic volume and stable cash flow from toll revenue, Mohammad Azlan said.

"For SUKE and DASH, they are still in the early days of opening, so it's all about getting people to familiarise with the route and how to make it easier for users to get into our highways from various connections or various points that they are coming from," he said.

"For DASH, it is better than what we forecasted earlier” while it would be “a bit too early for us to look at the full potential of the performance for SUKE right now,” given its phased opening, he said.

Focus now to deliver dividend

For now, Mohammad Azlan said Prolintas is focused on delivering its commitment of RM70 million total dividend and yield of 6.7% to unitholders. The trust will control its operating expenses (opex) and capital expenditure (capex) to maintain sufficient cash flow, he said.

"At this point of time, the immediate focus is to continue to make sure that our operating expenditure is at an efficient level, so that our cash at the end of the day can be optimised to give that returns [to the unitholders]," he said.

"This is the first business trust entity that is listed so I think it is of utmost importance for us to ensure the success of this particular set up," Mohammad Azlan added.

Prolintas Infra opened unchanged in its trading debut on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia at 95 sen on Monday.

At the time of writing, the counter was trading up 2.5 sen or 2.63% to 97.5 sen per unit, valuing the trust at RM1.08 billion after 35.36 million units changed hands on Bursa Malaysia.