The federal government has paid out a whopping RM2.05 billion to highway concessionaires in compensation through the years.

According to a parliamentary reply by Works Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor, he said that the taxpayer’s money has been paid to 27 highway concessionaires from the 80s up till the end of last year.

toll booth highway “The compensation had to be given out because of the government’s decision to postpone the toll rates increment for the highways, which were already stated in the concession agreement.

“Apart from that, the government also has to give out compensation due to other factors, among which are the abolishing of the Salak Jaya toll on the Sungai Besi Highway, the 50 percent discounts for buses on highways operated by PLUS Expressways Berhad; and the non-implementation of the restriction order on the Lebuh Raya Selat Klang Utara Baru (Lekas),” he said in his written reply to Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan).

And bank guarantees, subsidies and tax breaks, since the concessionaires are under the Economic Planning Unit, have not been factored into those figures.

In a table with all the highways and the compensation that has been given out, the North-South Expressway unsurprisingly takes the cake, having received RM735.22 million.

The Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) comes next with RM631.31 million.

But a distant third would be the Penang Bridge, with only RM181.23 million paid out to the concessionaire.

Revealing this in a press statement, Lim - who is also Penang Chief Minister - said that this was why “BN has to review the highway concession agreements in the public interest”.

Highway concession agreements were long shrouded in secrecy, being placed under the Official Secrets Act.

However, they were declassified in 2009, making it available for public reading at the Works Ministry library.

azlan