The opposition would not have been able to fulfil its election manifesto pledge to abolish highway tolls had it won in the 13th general election (GE13), says Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

This is because the Selangor government approved the yet to be constructed Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (Dash), East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) and the Sungai Besi-Ulu Klang Expressway (SUKE), which run through Selangor.

The Selangor government is led by Menteri Besar and PKR deputy president Azmin Ali.

"Dash, EKVE, SUKE are three major highways that will have tolls, which were approved by the Selangor government.

"Don't talk about roads without tolls if today the state government under Pakatan Harapan, or whatever they call themselves now, has approved new tolled highways," Khairy said at the Captain Hussein Leadership Academy (AKHI) in Kelana Jaya, Selangor, last night.

The then Pakatan Rakyat promised to abolish tolls for highways, as well as reduce car prices, lower petrol prices, provide handouts of RM1,000 to senior citizens and raise the petrol royalty to Sabah and Sarawak from five percent to 20 percent, in its 13th general election manifesto.

High fee for concessionaires

"If not, the opposition would not have made the promise to abolish tolls. We can't test that promise unless we want to hand over power ot them, which we don't want to happen," he said.

Works Minister Fadillah Yusof said it was difficult to abolish tolls because under the contracts, the government has to pay a high fee to highway toll concessionaires.

"If we want to abolish, we have to pay because there is an agreement. The agreement says if we don't pay, the government can be brought to court," Fadillah (photo) said at the event.

He said the DAP-led Penang government also did not fulfil its promise to abolish the Sungai Nyior-Butterworth highway tolls even though it won the general election.

"If we see what happened after the general election [...] DAP had a campaign that if it won, it would abolish the toll at Butterworth highway. But until now, it hasn't been abolished," Fadillah said.

Selangor MB Azmin on Oct 14 said he will summon two state firms, which have minority stakes in two expressways in the state, to explain on the toll hike issue.

The two firms are Selangor State Developement Corporation (PKNS) and Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor (KPS).

"The Selangor Economic Action Council (MTES) will scrutinise the feedback from PKNS and KPS. The state government's policy is to oppose any toll hike that will burden the rakyat," Azmin had said on Twitter.