Despite the two pledges of “No toll charges for non-users of EDL” and “No toll for EDL” made by Prime Minister in March and September 2012, causeway users experienced massive toll hike on August 1 this year.
In a written reply dated November 4, Minister of Works revealed the traffic volume coming in and out of Singapore-Johor in the month of August. After some calculation, it looks like MRCB had collected nearly RM11 million from toll in August.
Adding the compensation of RM11 million a month paid to MCRB by our government before the toll hike, it looks like MRCB can easily collect RM4.3 billion at the end of 34-year concession period, before we even consider the future increases in traffic volume and toll hike!
It was stated in MRCB 2011 Annual Report that the total investment cost of EDL was at RM1.2 billion. Even though MRCB is tasked to provide the maintenance for the facilities within the CIQ complex, the profit that they are going to make from toll collection is still exorbitant and astronomical!
As such, BN government should immediately declassify the Concession Agreement with MRCB so that Malaysians will know if our government has again abused its power to enrich its crony. Since many concession agreements have already been made public by former Works Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohamed in 2009, there is no reason why the Government cannot do this. We demand the government to handle the CIQ toll hike with complete transparency as it has severely burdened the daily life of many Johoreans.