Just days before the 11th general election, the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) was officially opened for the public. And no sooner after the general election, a toll of RM1.60 per entry was imposed, causing much dispute among the public, especially residents living around the area served by the new highway - Kampung Medan, Jalan Klang Lama, Pantai Dalam, Bukit Gasing and Subang Jaya.

RM1.60 for an entry, RM3.20 for a one-way trip and RM6.40 for return - these are the new charges for NPE. There was some hoo-haa that the rate would be revised, but these are, for now, the current charges.

Let's be realistic and assume that the rates will stay. For a working-class person in the above areas who wishes to avoid the already congested Federal Highway and use the NPE, he/she has to pay RM128 a month (RM1.60 x 2 entries x 2-way x 20 working days per month).

And that's not the end of the story. According to the agreement signed between Road Builder Sdn Bhd (the concessionaire which is awarded the contract on a build, operate and transfer basis) and the government, the toll charge is subjected for review in 2009, whereby it, subject to auditing, could be increased to RM2.

There is no doubt that the toll is too high, even for any upper-middle class person staying in area like Subang Jaya. I have a senior colleague living in Subang Jaya who has claimed that even though he is ready to pay the high toll for NPE, it does not serve as a time-saver since the traffic is congested at its entry and exit points, causing the travelling period to be almost the same as the Federal Highway.

There is a known reason why the toll charge for NPE motorists is so high. It is the cost of the construction, which had been delayed several times (causing additional cost). The 19.6 km expressway, which is almost totally elevated, cost RM1.36 billion, including RM964.3 million for construction, RM135 million for land acquisition and RM262.1 million in interest payments. The concessionaire, Road Builder, has a 33.5-year lease from March 1996.

On June 16, Works Minister S Samy Vellu stated that the toll charge would not be revised as the government would have to compensate Road Builder RM30 million annually, which is a high cost for the government, especially when most ministries have almost used all their allocation under the 8th Malaysian Plan.

There is an aspect that people seldom pay attention to regarding our traffic woes - urban planning. While it is acceptable to argue that the high toll rate is because the 'highway is built almost totally elevated', this is not enough to explain the rate.

The government and the concessionaire owe the people an explanation as to why they chose to build an elevated highway. The government also needs to explain and justify the reason for collecting toll along the upgraded Old Klang Road. If there was a need to upgrade Old Klang Road, then why did the government choose to privatise it?

The government has been asked to reveal the content of the contract it signed with the construction company but until now, it has kept mum. Certainly the government that we elected in the last general election owes us a few answers regarding the NPE.

There is a growing concern that the government seems to subscribe increasingly to the mentality of privatising everything when it comes to building new expressways or roads linking major suburban areas in the Klang Valley.

Road users are already wasting precious time and money on traffic jams and hefty toll-charges respectively because of shortcomings in our town-planning and public transportation.

As for the NPE, the government reasons that it represents an alternative to the Federal Highway as the latter is incapable of accommodating the increasing number of motorists. After all, areas along Federal Highway have now been developed into housing, industrial and commercial areas.

This phenomenon has boosted the traffic volume along the Federal Highway, which is already running on a maximum of six lanes. With this in mind, can we envisage that in the next 10 to 20 years, expressway like the NPE, NKVE and Kesas, which are not congested now, will become like the Federal Highway if local governments keep practising poor urban planning?