Although the federal government has announced that 17 highways around the country will be toll-free or offering discounts, much of this may be negated after Chinese New Year as a new toll increase is expected soon.

Speculation is rife that the 10 highway operators will raise their toll rates sometime this year, as scheduled in the concessionaire agreements.

chua tee yong interview 110309 05 Also adding fuel to the speculation is the government’s refusal to take a clear stand on the issue, says MCA Labis MP Chua Tee Yong ( left ).

 Parliamentarians from both sides of the political divide have dismissed the discounts as doing little to lessen the people’s financial burden.

  Call to review progress

They called on government to reveal the progress on reviewing the toll concessionaires, as it has been dragging along for far too long.

Chua conceded that providing discounts was good but it would not mitigate the unfairness contained in the concessionaire agreements.

He pointed out that if the government did not tackle the issue it would recur annually till 2030 as many of the agreements still have 30 years to go. The government has the option to extend the agreements.

nor mohamed yakcop Chua also revealed that MCA had submitted a nationalisation proposal to the Minister in Charge of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Nor Mohamed Yakcob, ( right ) but there has been no response so far.

He said: “I  understand  it involves big compensation, but dragging the issue is not be the answer. I hope government can reveal whatever progress made as soon as possible.”

Broken promises

DAP Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua also agreed that the discounts will not ease the people’s burdens, but felt that, more importantly, the government had broken its promise.

“The government is unable to restructure the agreements. They also have no political will to acquire the highway at  reasonable cost,” the chief DAP economist said.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak pledged to review the toll concessionaire agreements soon after taking office in April last year, promising results within three months with the EPU  charged with the task.

 

However, until now there has been no  announcement from the government apart from the 20 percent discount for those who use the highways more than 80 times per month.

Call for nationalisation of highways

Both Pua and Chua also suggested the best way to solve the toll increase problem is by nationalising the highways.

bersih 21 charged in petaling jaya session court 230109 tony puah Pua ( left )revealed that almost all concessionaire agreements, except Penang Bridge and Plus highways, have a clause permitting the government to buy back the highways without calculating in the concessionaires’s  loss of future earnings.

 

Nor Mohamed has said government needs RM200 billion to take over the highways, but Pua says it needs only RM25 to 30 billion.

Their views were also backed by Kerk Loong Sing, chairman of the  economy committee for the Chinese umbrella group, The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia, commonly known as Hua Zong.

Kerk said it is not hard for government to take over Plus highways as they already own most of the shares.

However, there are also some against the nationalisation idea. Former president of Transparency International Malaysia Ramon Navaratnam is one.  He said that government should rectify unfair contracts.

 

Navaratnam said toll collecting companies should have a profit ceiling with the government ensuring that it is fair.

Works Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor had said earlier this week that motorists using the Kuala Lumpur-Karak and the East Coast highways will not be charged toll from 11.30pm to 4.30am during the festive period.

Discounts of 5-20 percent will be offered on other highways. For example, PLUS highway users travelling between midnight and 7am will enjoy a 20 percent discount on the toll charge.