Govt to face bumpy road ahead, say highway operators

By THE STAR | 23 February 2019


KUALA LUMPUR: The government has to navigate a tough terrain to lower or abolish toll charges altogether, say highway concessionaires.

An official with one of the largest highway operators said while the government could prevent them from increasing toll charges and offer compensation, there were no clauses in their agreement to reduce or abolish toll charges.

“The move would be a tough business decision to make.

“Highway concessionaires have loans to service and other bills to pay, and the government cannot force them to reduce or abolish these rates without proper compensation,” the official said.

“The question now is: Does the country have enough money to compensate the operators as the amount may run into billions?”

The official said while highway operators could offer discounts on toll charges, like those given during festive seasons, the move could not be sustained on a long-term basis.

READ MORE: Toll charges expected to be abolished in stages

“The negotiation to get highway operators to reduce or abolish their rates could be a tedious and painful one,” said the official.

Reducing toll charges on certain highways and abolishing it on others had caused the government billions of ringgit in compensation over the past few months.

On Dec 12 last year, the government froze toll rate hikes for 21 highways and paid an estimated RM972mil in compensation.

The abolition of toll charges for motorcyclists along the Penang Bridge, the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge in Penang as well as the Second Link in Johor cost the federal government a total of RM20mil annually, effective from Jan 1 this year.

The government also agreed to freeze toll hikes for Class 5 vehicles and buses on eight highways.

That move cost the government RM1.68mil in compensation annually.

At the end of last year, Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd rec­eived RM1.325bil from the government as settlement for ending the concession for the Johor Baru East­ern Dispersal Link Expressway.

A 2010 study by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit estimated overall costs to take over all highways in the country to be RM383.3bil.

That total comprised costs to take over the highway concessionaires (RM45.2bil) and costs to abolish toll collection (RM338.1bil).

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