PONTIAN: The absence of toll hikes or toll discounts during the festive seasons is costing the government RM500mil, says Deputy Works Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Maslan.
He said the amount was needed to be paid to 10 concession companies following the government’s decision made last December.
“Everything, such as the absence of toll hikes or with toll discounts during the festive seasons, is not free but is borne by the government to the toll concessionaires according to the concession agreements that were signed previously,” he said, Bernama reported.
Ahmad added the government also bears a financial implication of around RM80mil per year to compensate all toll highway concessionaires following the 50% toll discount given to the people during festive seasons.
He said that the amount needed to be paid to highway concession companies for toll discounts during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas celebrations.
The discounts were given to alleviate the cost of living for the people, especially during the festive seasons when they return to their hometowns.
The government is pursuing the construction of tolled highways through a privatisation approach, primarily due to financial limitations on funding all infrastructure projects within the annual development allocation.
He said that through this method, concessionaires need to obtain financing from banks to cover the construction costs of the highway project, which amounts to billions of ringgit.
“When the project is privatised, the related company has to borrow from the bank to finance the billion-ringgit project, and the way to recover the payment is through toll collection,” he said.
He also said that the toll collection is subject to the rates agreed upon in the concession agreement signed for a certain period.
“During the contracted period, an increase in the toll rate was anticipated. However, the government is apprehensive and prefers not to raise the rate, as it takes into account the impact on the livelihoods of the people,” he added.
