25 highway operators offer toll discounts for CNY

Karak highway toll plaza

KUALA LUMPUR: Highway concessionaires will offer discounts of between 10% and 30% to car users on tolled highways on Chinese New Year, says Works Minister Baru Bian.

“This coming Chinese New Year, 25 highway operators will offer special incentives to motorists in the form of discounts.

“The discounts will range between 10% and 30% for Class 1 vehicles (cars) on Feb 5,” he said at the launch of the Highway Safety Advocacy Campaign yesterday at the Gombak toll plaza in conjunction with the coming Chinese New Year celebration.

He said PLUS Malaysia Bhd would offer a 10% discount for Class 1 vehicles (cars) using the Electronic Toll Charge (ETC) for six of its highways.

He said Anih Bhd, which operates the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway and East Coast Highway (Phase 1), would also offer a 10% discount for Class 1 vehicles.

The discounts will be effective from 12.01am on Feb 5 to 11.59pm the same day.

Earlier in his speech, Baru said out of 226 road fatalities during the two-week festive period last year, 22 fatalities occurred on highways.

He said this was a reduction compared to 28 fatalities out of 257 fatal road accidents along highways over the same period in 2017.

“Although there is a reduction, I am still very concerned as motorcyclists continue to be the highest number of motorists killed in road accidents.

“Based on statistics from the Road Safety Department, the majority of those killed in accidents are between 16 and 25 years old,” he added.

He noted that the ministry allocated RM1.3mil last year to improve road conditions at 10 accident-prone areas along highways.