Government should to make public the details of further toll collections by all highway concessionaires!

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Call on the Government to make public the details of further toll collections by all highway concessionaires, so that the people can understand how much more they have to pay before the burden can be lifted. Are there alternatives

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Media Statement
by Dr Tan Seng Giaw
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(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): On 15 August, 2005, Fomca advisor Professor Datuk Hamdan Adnan suggested that the Government renegotiate all the agreements with highway operators as the present ones were too one-sided and against public interest. Samy replied that it was not possible to renegotiate the agreements as it involved huge borrowings (over RM100 billion) from the financial institutions.

“…This would mean that for PLUS alone, the Government would have to pay some RM65 billion,” he added.

In 1987, we reminded the Government that giving the concession of the North-South Highway to UEM, the first highway project to be privatized, would have serious implications. Alas, the Government took no notice. It went ahead with giving concessions for highway projects to many companies. How has it fixed reasonable toll rates?

The minister reiterated that the Government had renegotiated all concession agreements with highway operators in 2003 to reduce toll rates. It extended toll increases from every three to five years and lengthened the concession period.

The Government must be transparent. It should announce the details of how much more tolls will be collected by the concession companies before road-users are released of the burden.

(17/8/2005)

* Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Deputy Chairman and Member of Parliament for Kepong