Govt will fork out RM60mil to four operators to defer toll rate hikes

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government is forking out RM59.77mil in compensation to four highway concessionaires to allow the operators to defer any toll hikes for 2016 and 2017, says Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.

He added that the Cabinet, on Oct 12, approved the compensation if tolls were not increased for the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL), Kajang-Seremban Highway (Lekas), Senai-Desaru Expressway (SDE) and Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE).

“There will be no toll hikes for the four highways this year and next year,” he said at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

He was responding to Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping), who asked whether there will be a toll hike at the four highways next year.

Fadillah said the Government had also restructured toll rates for the North-South Expressway (NSE) in 1999, 2002 and in 2011.

He said the concession agreement with PLUS Malaysia Berhad will end in Dec 31, 2038.

In a separate statement, Fadillah said the beneficiaries of toll collections from the North-South Ex­­pressway (PLUS) were Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors.

He was responding to Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s claim that the toll hike for PLUS was meant to benefit Barisan Nasional “cronies”.

Fadillah said it was incredulous that Lim considered the 14.55 million EPF members “cronies”.

“PLUS is now 51% owned by the Government and 49% owned by the EPF. Not a single share is owned by what Lim considers as private ‘cronies’,” he said.

“EPF’s ownership of PLUS highways allows its members to receive a stable return every year from a mature cash-generating asset.”

He said at present, revenue from toll collection was needed for the maintenance and upgrade of the expressway.

Referring to Lim’s suggestion last year that road tax collection should be used instead, Fadillah pointed out that the country’s road tax charges, at RM90 annually for the majority of car owners, were among the lowest in the world.

“Total collection of road tax is about RM2.4bil per year,” he said.

Fadillah said assuming the 14.55 million EPF account holders agreed to Lim’s suggestion to sustain billions in losses immediately and forego tens of billions more in future dividends, the RM2.4bil road tax collection alone would not be enough to maintain the PLUS highway systems on top of the 50,000km of toll-free federal roads, and still provide annual allocations to the individual states to maintain their state roads.

He said that under the Federal Government’s Malaysian Road Records Information System, billions had been allocated to state governments to maintain their state roads, of which the Penang state government received RM101.5mil in 2015 and RM107.6mil this year.

“It is hoped that Lim spends more time to understand the true situation instead of issuing populist statements that are not grounded in reality, and irresponsibly labelling any and all parties as cronies,” he added.