During the initial phases, the North–South Expressway project was criticized for its sluggish progress pace. As of 1986, only about 350 km (or two-thirds of the entire length) of the expressway was completed. The work progress became worse due to the nationwide economic setback caused by the falling prices of commodities like rubber and tin. As a result, the government had to revise its initial policy of having the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) to execute the entire construction job and decided to have the expressway project to be privatised, citing the success of the privatisation of the North Klang Straits Bypass in 1985 by Shapadu A letter of intention was sent to United Engineers (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (now UEM Group) on 29 December 1986 before being finalised in 1988. The privatisation agreement had led to the formation of Highway Concessionaires Berhad which would later become Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad (PLUS). PLUS took over the construction, operation and maintenance jobs of the North–South Expressway from LLM starting from March 1998, together with the Skudai Highway FT1.