Abolishing tolls a burden to govt’s finances – Mahathir

Abolishing tolls a burden to govt’s finances – Mahathir

According to prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, abolishing tolls will be a burden to the government’s finances. The recent statement echoes what both the works and finance minister previously stated.

In a report by The Star, the premiere said removing tolls on the North-South Expressway, for instance, would cost the government RM30 billion. “This money can be better spent to pay debts and will ease the government’s financial burden,” he said.

For now, the government is obtaining feedback from the private sector on how toll rates can be reduced, but has not come to a decision on anything at the moment.

The issue of abolishing tolls, which was included in Pakatan Harapan’s GE14 manifesto, has been a convoluted one. In the beginning, the idea was to abolish tolls in stages within the first 100 days of governing, but this was later delayed to monetary priorities.

Abolishing tolls a burden to govt’s finances – Mahathir

Later on, works minister Baru Bian stated that there will be no abolishment of tolled roads until the country’s finances have recovered, noting that it would cost about RM400 billion to abolish all tolls in one go. Instead, alternatives such as reducing toll rates, granting discounts during off peak hours and ensuring no increase in toll rates were suggested.

Near the end of 2018, finance minister Lim Guan Eng revealed the government needed to pay almost RM1 billion in compensation to highway toll concessionaires for 2019. This is due to the government’s decision to freeze toll hikes and abolish motorcycle tolls on certain highways.

More recently, in February, the government said it was in talks to negotiate the acquisition of highway concessions, although a congestion charge system was also mooted.

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Gerard Lye

Originating from the corporate world with a background in finance and economics, Gerard’s strong love for cars led him to take the plunge into the automotive media industry. It was only then did he realise that there are more things to a car than just horsepower count.

 

Comments

  • Who care, burden? Income tax got renovation at jalan duta branch, burden? The ghost will trust you.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 15 Thumb down 1
    • Manifesto Dicapati on May 28, 2019 at 6:13 pm

      No. Sycophants like our resident troll(with the many dupes) believes and continues to propagate their lies.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Akira on May 28, 2019 at 10:23 am

    It’s okay, Protiga is more important.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 19 Thumb down 1
  • LatukBandar on May 28, 2019 at 10:24 am

    but Tony Pua said it cost RM25 billion to abolish all tolls in Malaysia, also, he said prices of good will drop once GST is abolish… Najib turun ringgit naik…

    sometimes I think they lied so much to the extend they believe in their own lies and lives in a different bubble.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 42 Thumb down 1
    • Fordist on May 29, 2019 at 8:17 am

      We are beginning to see how far down Pakatan politicians had been willing to go just to win. No scruples, no morals, no honour, no self-respect, no respect for their voters, not a single shred of trust. All for the sake of winning at all cost.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 0
  • Md Hashim Al-Attas on May 28, 2019 at 10:29 am

    This is so true. They have to restore so much of past damage.

    Before they took over, they did not expect the damage to be 100X worse than they estimated.

    You have my full support Tun. I am happy to pay toll to restore my country back to its former glory.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 38
    • Pundek on May 29, 2019 at 7:45 am

      Lol

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
    • John Doe on May 29, 2019 at 9:07 am

      Itulahhh… ask you to go and study you go and rempit.
      If you can pay toll to restore the country back to its glory, we already no.1 in Asia since we’ve been paying for more than 22 years under Tun. Tapi it seems the more we pay under Tun last time the more unglory it gets!

      You can continue to kipas their buntut but atleast try to guna logic sikit boleh

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • hondafan on May 28, 2019 at 10:38 am

    if you cant remove the toll, the lower the charge la old man, by 50% is minimum.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 1
  • Sick & Tired on May 28, 2019 at 10:42 am

    Tun yang dikasihi, moga sihat selalu. Klu diorang xsedut kat 1Mdb, Felda, Ltat & Lth. Abolished tolls memang no problem. Sighh maluApa

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 10 Thumb down 24
  • Gabriel on May 28, 2019 at 11:31 am

    I think I had enough. Come GE15, I’m bringing back BN. At least BN is good at managing the economy.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 38 Thumb down 10
  • manifestotototo on May 28, 2019 at 11:32 am

    Incompetent government is a burden to the rakyat

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 27 Thumb down 2
  • Kaiju on May 28, 2019 at 11:52 am

    Lanj*** laaa selamba u kencing the rakyat like this; before election u promise macam2 like elephants also can fly. Now simply u-turn and give so many excuses!! Bloody liars!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 38 Thumb down 3
  • Spin Too Much on May 28, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    Yeah sure. Why you didn’t say that when making such promises during GE14? Bunch of backstabbing, lying, hypocrites. Honour your promises!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 28 Thumb down 2
  • pomen on May 28, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    hahahahahahaha…one malaysia sudah kena kencing

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 22 Thumb down 4
  • nokia 3310 on May 28, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    Krik3…
    no comment at all?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 3
    • Sick & Tired on May 29, 2019 at 12:39 am

      How to comment? I’m still picking my jaw off the floor for being suckered into voting them. I have never been fooled so hard before, now I realised how stupid I was then. #NeverPHAgain

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • John Doe on May 28, 2019 at 3:39 pm

    Dejavu
    This old man always puts up the frowning face…
    bila cakap slow af… macam ultra high wisdom…
    tapi the more i look like it …actually it’s a sign of dementia… cakap tak serupa bikin…sigh…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 1
  • kona kona kona kona baring..weehuuuu

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • Optimus on May 29, 2019 at 12:45 am

    Someone had asked, what’s the difference between the old government and the new one. Well, the old one didn’t promise to abolish tolls yet was ongoing work abolishing them one by one. The new one talked non-stop about promising to abolish tolls, yet capati this promise and instead building new tolled highways. This is a NATO government, No Action Talk Only.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 0
  • PakMatTempey on May 29, 2019 at 5:41 am

    Tapi Protiga is needed to the country.. stupid government is coming from the hand of a stupid voters…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
 

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