In light of the recent toll hikes across several major highways, the Ministry of Works (KKR) has issued a statement justifying the need for such a move. According to the New Straits Times, the government has already paid a total of RM1,108.91 million in compensation to highway concessionaires as a result of the delay in imposing toll fare hikes from 2008 to 2013.
For the year 2014 alone, the government had reportedly paid a total of RM402.9 million to concessionaires for the same reason. The Works Ministry believes that the total figure, which sums up to about RM1,511.9 million, could have been channelled to “boost the economy and benefit Malaysians.”
“The government believes the compensation from the postponement of toll fare hikes could have been rightfully used to create multiplier effects to the nation’s economy which can benefit Malaysians people as a whole,” commented the ministry in a statement issued. Additionally, The Star has also reported that the ministry has claimed it chose to defer the increase earlier on to safeguard the welfare of the people.
Additionally, the money paid as compensation could have been directed towards the establishment of more schools and hospitals as well as used to resurface existing roads. The ministry also defended the move by stating that only hikes on intra-city highways were implemented and not inter-city highways.
Also, toll rates for buses have been more or less maintained to further encourage the use of public transport. “This could potentially reduce traffic and road congestion,” said the ministry. For a full look at the affected highways and the corresponding updated toll rates, click here.
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My answer to the Works Ministry response “Pala Hotak Tok Hang!”.
OMG…bullshit concession…always need to compensate…Show me LDP daily collection how much 1st? i dun 1 talk others. What the hell licensed robber king….puiiii
Highway already recoup cost, why not give it to JKR take over?
Good Excuse. NOT!
The people already paid taxes every year, and you also imposed GST on ALL levels of income. Yet it is not enough to pay the concessionaires? Really? There’s not enough money in the government account? WOW.
I wonder where did the money go*sarcasm*
i bet somebody needed a new cincin…
We all know who is the idiot who knowingly signed such lopsided agreements which the people end up paying for.
Please don’t try to justify. The people know very well why they have to pay for such hefty increases.
Ok what’s done is done. I think this thing centers around Selangor. What can the government do to help the rakyat? Please built alternative truck roads.
Just remember that Selangor State Gomen is in opposition hands and Toll roads are in Federal Gomen hands. So don’t count too much from the Federal Gomen to the Selangor people.
we all knw they will korek left rite centre to repay the debt
hopefully we dont see increase tax rate in next budget…but u never know
Kalau tak nak bayar tol jangan guna lebuhraya.. Beli helikopter.
Boost my ass got la. Because of this each product n service will go up in price. Only the government in Bolehland will increase everything in a span of one year from the GST to the fuel and then came the 1MDB debt that a certain PM robbed the country of and then came the toll hike. Next will be the price for using government services and maybe add in some spice to the utilities that the rakyat are paying.
i dont understand how these concessions are written..please publish them to public!! the contract seems to benefit the companies only and its not fair to rakyat and government!!
Go ahead and increase. Cost of owning a car per month is very cheap in Malaysia. Cost of parking is cheap too. I can’t stand the presence of too many cars in Malaysia and the attitude of drivers in Malaysia.
The things obviously shows the G coffer is in dire state! They cannot fork out money to pay the compensation like they use to. janji dicapati. After this public transport turn. next month, petrol turn.
Kerajaan BN sayang anda, toll naik semua salah LGE
“could have been channelled to “boost the economy and benefit Malaysians.”
We heard the same story when the oil subsidy was removed.
We heard the same story when you demand more tax in GST.
And now you give us the same story again…
Please tell us in concrete details those money saved or collected go to which specific project that benefits the rakyat vs if no toll hike this project won’t happen.
Ever heard of project derma 2.6b?
This has gone too much.. Dun try to justify like the rakyat are some kind of retarded people. The toll hike is nothing new in bolehland but the magnitude of increase is too much. Confirm nk kaut before anything happen.
So, toll rates are going up not because the roads have been widened, service quality has been improved, etc. but because of concession agreements that stipulate toll rates has to go up.. and if the toll rates are not raised, the government has to pay the concessionaires the difference. In order not to burden the government from this stupid arrangement, the concessionaires must be allowed to increase their toll rates.
In other words, if I sold goreng pisang to some Ministry and in our contract I say that I expect to sell 50,000 fritters a day after a year, and I’ll need to charge RM1 (up from RM0.50) for the fritters by then, the Ministry has to sign this contract. After a year, if they ask me to keep my selling price at RM0.50, they’ll have to compensate me for the RM0.50 per fritter for all my sales and for the projected missing sales.
How then, can I possibly lose money? How then, can I not get away with daylight robbery? I can jack up my revenue projections as unrealistic as I want, and if I don’t get to raise my toll rates to get me there, the government has to pay me money.
Forget about Najib, this isn’t his sole doing. All those crooks who are the godfathers of these concessionaires.. the crooks who signed these agreements.. the crooks in the ministries who allowed such agreements to be accepted by the government.. they’re the ones at fault..
Don’t forget that all highway concessionaire have taken borrowings and issued bonds to finance the construction of the highways.
These are all secured based on prescribed interest repayment amounts over a certain period and will most likely be paid on a step-up basis.
When making the bond issuance, the concessionaire would have made a projected step-up of revenues and also taken into account the various expenses (don’t forget our tolled highways are quite well maintained) as well as the interest repayment sums.
So if the toll rates do not step-up, how do you expect the concessionaire to repay the bonds? Bonds issued in USD will also be more expensive now to repay.
And if the interest payments are not met, then we will be looking at more rating’s cut and higher cost of funding in the future. All of this is again ultimately passed on to the consumer.
Binalah jalan sendiri kalau tak mau bayar tol
Songlap our money got lah.
Then to be fair why not impose toll on motorcyclist as well? Any type of vehicles that uses the highway should pay the price!!!
“dey, you punch me. why not punch my brother as well” is essentially what you are saying. go chase the fakar who punch you in the first place, why ask him to punch other people.
Some how the number of increased number of vehicles using the toll roads over the years are not mentioned. Doesn’t this contribute to the profits of the toll concessionaires?
Anyways the compensation are tax payers’ money as well. Double whammy.
Intra city highway aje yg naik, kata menteri…
Yg intra city tu le yg hari2 org guna pegi keja balik keja, kata aku yg bukan menteri…
They really really think that we Malaysians are so stupid as to believe whatever the hell they choose to tell us?
It is 2015. Wake the F up, government.
I would gladly pay any increased toll cost – if they refunded me the money each time I encounter a traffic jam at the tolled-roads.
I think we should consider ride a bicycle to work. I just did a 120KM in putrajaya fellowship ride and i enjoy it. Lets ride to work, only drive over the weekend with your family. See how much they can squeeze on us, real fartard Government.
BUt you are risking your life being run over by ah beng in myvi SE or dugong or even rempit…anytime can say adios…
Brainless works minister…necessary my ass. Talk with your mouth and not with your ass la. GST alone collected 15 billion in 3 months is enough to compensate for 10 years. What is the funds being used for? To bailout that stupid company 1MDB? So far I don’t see anything that benefit the country and economy. Benefit cronies only