DAP has slammed the highway toll hikes announced this week as primarily a result of the ruling government’s 'outrageously stupid agreements' with the concessionaires.

Responding to Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Wahid Omar yesterday saying the hikes were unavoidable because the government couldn’t afford to pay the companies compensation in lieu, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said this was purely because of the “lopsided” agreements inked to benefit the companies.

“The toll hikes are not due to the federal government reallocating expenditure from toll compensation to other spending, but to the outrageously stupid agreements they signed with the concessionaires,” said Pua in a statement.

“[…] The ‘very high compensation’ argument (used by the government) is an extremely poor but oft-used excuse to subject ordinary Malaysians to higher toll rates,” said Pua.

Such terms, he said, were the result of the agreements the government had cut in the first place, and such contracts made without tender only benefited the companies, allegedly “cronies” of the ruling party.

“As a result, these toll hikes, which are BN-sanctioned highway robberies, had enabled the cronies to make astronomical profits at the expense of the rakyat,” he said.

Pua said what was worse was that despite the hard lessons learned, the government continued to directly award highway contracts without any tenders.

“Hence, we can only expect all current and future highways to continue strangling the Malaysian motorists in the future as toll rates rise even more drastically.”

Option to terminate

Pua, however, said the government has the option to terminate the concessions agreements at any point of time, and would only need to pay compensation for the cost of the highway less any grants provided by the government.

“It is an escape clause which is structurally affordable and can put an immediate stop to the escalating burden on the highway users.

“However, the government has repeatedly refused to do so in the past, claiming the irrational need to compensate the highway operators for the loss of future profits,” he said.

Pua said the government’s excuse for not exercising the clause rendered it pointless and contradictory.

“If the government has to compensate for the loss of future profits for terminating a concession it awarded, then what’s the point?” asked the MP.

“It might as well let the concessionaires continue to collect toll for the next few decades, rather than paying up upfront today.

“The above clearly shows that the federal government is in complete cahoots with the highway companies and couldn’t care less for the plight of the ordinary folks of this country, contrary to the BN election manifesto.”

In another statement today, fellow MP for Kulai Teo Nie Ching also punctured the government’s excuses on the inevitable toll hikes, citing how in the case of the Cheras highway, the government could do well to buy up the remaining stake in the concessionaire as it would be cheaper than paying them compensation in lieu of hikes.