Gov't U-turn: Toll hike put off

In a dramatic reversal, the government has decided to suspend toll hikes of up to 33 percent for five major highways in Klang Valley announced yesterday.

The decision was made by the cabinet at its weekly meeting today chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had yesterday called for the cabinet to reconsider the toll hike.

Abdullah, who is attending an Asean defence ministers meeting in Thailand, said he was concerned that public anger over the latest hike could affect BN’s popularity, especially ahead of three crucial by-elections.

The five affected highways are North-South Expressway (Plus), Sprint Highway (Sprint), Ampang Elevated Highway (Akleh), Sungai Besi Highway (Besraya) and New Pantai Expressway (NEP).

In an announcement yesterday, Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamed said that toll rates in these five highways would go up on Sunday.

In a dramatic reversal, Mohd Zin said that the toll hike has been "deferred" in view of the public reaction and the ailing economy at a press conference at 4.30pm today.

"With that, my statement yesterday on the toll hike is cancelled," he said.

Mohd Zin said that the toll increase will be postponed to after Dec 31 this year.

With the 10-month delay, the government will have to pay RM287 million in compensation to the five toll concessionaires.

This is the second delay in toll hike for some of the highways.

The toll rate for Plus, Sprint and Akleh highways was supposed to have been increased on Jan 1, 2008 but this was deferred.

For that, the government to pay compensation totalling RM245 million - RM177 million to Plus, RM38 million to Sprint and RM30 million to Akleh.

However, at a press conference later, Najib said that no time-frame has been set on how long the toll hike would be deferred.

According to him, the hike will be put off "indefinitely", contradicting Mohd Zin.

Ploy by PM to boost image?

Meanwhile, there is speculation that the sudden U-turn today was a ploy by Abdullah to boost his image as an outgoing prime minister.

Najib, who is finance minister and prime minister-in-waiting, is now in a precarious position as he has to announce a rise in toll prices for the five highways and an unknown number of highways which are due for higher toll rates next year.

According to Mohd Zin, the initial decision to raise the toll prices was decided during the Feb 11 cabinet meeting where the five highways were due for a 10 percent to 66.7 percent increase in rates.

The increase was slashed to half when Mohd Zin made the announcement yesterday.

Mohd Zin’s press conference today was slated for 3.15pm at the Works Ministry’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters but he was over an hour late.

He spent about five minutes reading out a prepared text before quickly trying to leave the place but as the questions from reporters started pouring in, Mohd Zin was compelled to sit down and continue the press conference.

Below are some questions and answers from the press conference:

Question: Why don’t the government abolish the toll collection since the highways concerned are frequently full of traffic jams?

Mohd Zin: This involves the traffic flow, volume and the state of public transport. So we have to look at things in totality.

Why don’t the government improve public transport?

I am responsible for infrastructure, roads and bridges that belong to the federal government. If we look at the Klang Valley, there are all sort of roads. Some come under the authority of the state and local governments.

This makes traffic management a challenge... if we want to reduce traffic, we must make sure public transportation is very efficient...otherwise if we want to resolve traffic problems, it will be a challenge. That’s all I can say.

Will the government raise toll rates next year?

We will revisit the subject when the time comes.

Why can’t the government buy up the highways?

That is the principle of privatisation to nationalisation. We have to look at the financial capabilities of the government, what would be total liability, who are the shareholders. It is not also technical parameters but financial parameters we would have to address.

Are you looking into it?

I’m just defining the parameters we have to address...it is a question if whether we want to stick to privatisation vis-a-vis nationalisation.

What do you think of DAP’s proposal for the government to buy up Plus highway?

Anyone can come up (with such plans). What Tony Pua should do is not look at Plus as a standalone. The whole concession is operating as an integrated entity.

Are you rejecting his proposal?

I didn’t say that.

Is the cancellation of the toll hike related to the upcoming by-elections?

That is your speculation.