S’gor told to flex muscle over state toll hikes

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The Selangor government has been urged to flex its muscles on highway concessionaires in order to exercise more control over toll hikes.

Kampung Tunku assemblyperson Lau Weng San said with a 20 percent stake in Syarikat Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat Holdings Sdn Bhd that operates Sprint highway, the Selangor government should insist that the company discuss future toll hikes before implementation.

"For example, (the state’s) Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor (KPS) as a minority shareholder can table a resolution at the company’s AGM that all toll increases in future be referred first to the board of directors before it is carried out.

“This is one of the provisions in Section 145 of the Companies Act,” said the DAP state representative in a statement.

“The Selangor government can consider this as a means to inject any state policy into the operations of companies that it has a stake in,” he said.

Lau said this is not the first time the state has used its equity stake to ease the people’s burden from toll hikes.

In 2008, he said, the state opened an access road from the Cheras-Kajang highway.

“The episode was aided by the fact the land used by the concessionaire Cerah Sama Sdn Bhd to close off the road is state land,” said Lau.

“The Selangor government as a minority shareholder in Sprint can still, and should, make its voice heard so that future hikes are done in a controlled manner that does not burden the people.”

'Reveal outcome of meetings'

Lau urged the state government to reveal the outcome of meetings it has held with Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS) and KPS over the toll hike announced last week.

He said the meeting with KPS was even more important, as apart from the 20 percent share in the concessionaire, Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah is also the state’s representative on the latter’s board.

Last Thursday Sivarasa responded to criticisms over the Sprint toll hike saying the board of directors had not been informed of the move.

Lau also called on the nomination of state representatives to the toll concessionaries be carried out in a transparent manner, and for their allowances, for example Sivarasa's, to be made public in the interest of “good governance” .

“Sivarasa as the elected representative should inform the people how much allowances he has received during his term of office as Sprint’s board member,” he said.

“The Selangor government should also disclose how much dividends it has received from highway concessionaires and how these dividends are being used (for example) to upgrade the quality of alternative routes,” he added.



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