Local residents are angered by the emergence of a toll collection plaza at the Sungai Nyior interchange point of the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (Borr) and Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE) in Penang last week.

The affected residents and vehicle users are dismayed that they would be charged a 70 sen toll for using an upgraded main road, and not a newly built expressway or outer ring road.

The road, which had existed for 10 years, connects BKE with the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) in Bagan Jermal.

To register their protest, residents and vehicle users from Seberang Perai and southern Kedah have formed an Anti-Sungai Nyior Highway Toll Collection Alliance.

Its co-chairperson Lee Thiam Lim said the alliance would submit a memorandum to the federal and state governments this week, demanding for the abolishment of toll at Sungai Nyior.

The alliance would also launch a signature campaign to intensify local support for its protest.

"We have been using the road for 10 years and now suddenly we are facing toll charges.

"It's unfair, unjustified and ridiculous," Lee said at a protest against the toll in Seberang Jaya on Sunday.

The BKE - NBCT 5km stretch was built by Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan (Plus) before handing it over to the BKE developer.

The federal government then bought it from BKE for an undisclosed sum and sold it to the Borr developer, Lingkaran Luar Butterworth (Pg) Sdn Bhd (LLB) for RM50 million.

In disclosing this, Bagan Member of Parliament Lim Hock Seng suggested that the federal government buy back the stretch to allow local residents to use it for free.

Even though millions of ringgit have been undoubtedly poured in to upgrade existing roads and build new ones to construct Borr, he said this does not justify the Sungai Nyior toll collection, especially since the stretch was built by Plus for BKE, and not Borr.

Does not make sense

The DAP politician took a swipe at the government's decision to buy and sell it to Borr, instead of leaving it under BKE's maintenance.

"The government's business deal does not make any sense. A non-toll road has been turned into tolled one," he said.

The 16km Borr cuts across Prai, Bagan Jermal and Bagan Ajam to link with the North-South Expressway at Megamal Pinang near the Penang Bridge and Sungai

Dua toll plaza.

Under the concession agreement signed between the federal government and LLB, which is a joint venture company of Rayston Consortium Sdn Bhd (70 percent) and Etika Gemilang (30 percent), Borr will have three toll plazas.

Since Borr adopts an open toll collection system, vehicles will have to pay RM1 at the Prai toll plaza, 90 sen at Bagan Ajam and 70 sen at Sungai Nyior for each entry and exit from the ring road.

The toll collection will last for 30 years.

Works Minister S Samy Vellu has announced that toll collections would start on Feb 15 in Prai and Bagan Ajam while in Sungai Nyior, it would commence on Feb 20.

A survey done by the alliance revealed that about 150,000 vehicles use the stretch for 12 hours during peak time and more than 500,000 users would be affected by the toll.

At the Seberang Jaya gathering, the alliance had unanimously passed a resolution urging the government to abolish the toll collection.