Several major roads in the federal capital will be closed beginning today in conjunction with the 2011 New Year Eve celebrations.

Kuala Lumpur traffic police chief ACP Rusli Nohd Noor said in a statement yesterday that the affected roads were those in the vicinity of Dataran Merdeka, Bukit Bintang, KLCC, Bangsar Baru and KL Sentral.

multilingual arabic road sign street sign in kl bukit bintang area 241108 03 He said the road at the Dataran Merdeka would be closed from 5pm today until 6am tomorrow while the road at Bukit Bintang would be closed from midnight today until 6am on Jan 1.

Several other roads were also expected to be closed in stages according to the prevailing traffic condition, he said.

Meanwhile, in Georgetown, several roads are to be closed in stages tomorrow for the 54th city day celebration.

A Penang Municipal Council statement today said the three major roads to be closed in view of several activities are Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah, Lebuh Light and Jalan Padang Kota Lama.

"A section of Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah, from the Lebuh Light/Pengkalan Weld roundabout to Lebuh Duke, will be closed from 7am to midnight," it said.

The road from the Lebuh Pantai roundabout to Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, the Lebuh King/Lebuh Light junction, the Lebuh Penang/Lebuh Light junction and the Lebuh Pantai/Lebuh Downing junction  will be closed from 4pm to midnight, it added.

The statement advised the public to plan their journey and follow the road signs set up by the council to ensure smooth traffic flow.

- Bernama