The absence of an allocation to compensate toll concessionaires for not rising toll rates in the 2017 Budget tabled by the prime minister yesterday indicates one thing - brace for toll hikes in 2017.

“I believe the government has made the decision to not compensate concessionaires and toll rates will go up.

“I don’t know which highway concessionaires will raise their toll rates in 2017, but we know Works Minister Fadilah Yusof said the government is negotiating with several highway concessionaires, including for the North South-Expressway (Plus),” PKR’s Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin said.