Did finance minister Lim Guan Eng roll out the RM6.2 billion highway takeover plan without the agreement of the cabinet? No such thing happened, says prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“No such thing. The cabinet was told about this plan by the ministry of finance and we have not said no. The date of the implementation is going to be decided by the cabinet,” the PM said in Putrajaya today, reported by the Malay Mail. He also denied that the proposal to buy out the four toll concessionaires has been put on hold pending a full review, as alleged by reports.
Yesterday, Singapore’s Straits Times (ST) claimed that the proposed takeover has been paused for a re-examination of the offered price, and that some in the federal government, including cabinet members, believed that the offer was excessive. It also said that the finance ministry’s projected revenue, backed by congestion charge collection, may not allow for the acquisition to be self-funded as presented.
The ST report, picked up by local media, also mentioned that the issue was causing friction within the Pakatan Harapan coalition government, quoting an unnamed Malaysian minister. The minister said Lim had presented the plan to the public and made offers for the Gamuda-linked concessionaires without the agreement of the cabinet.
It was pointed out that Gamuda, which is agreeable to the buyout offers, is leading the ambitious RM46 billion Penang Transport Masterplan. Lim was the chief minister of Penang before last year’s general election. The report also quoted an unnamed DAP leader who somewhat confirmed the internal resistance to the takeover proposal. “The finance ministry is of the view that the proposal is good, but it has taken on an unfortunate political twist,” the person said.
In June, the Minister of Finance Inc made a RM6.2 billion offer to take over the operators of the Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat (Sprint), Lebuhraya Shah Alam (Kesas) and the Smart Tunnel.
Lim had said that the takeover bid is being done in the name of public interest, and with the congestion charge system in place, the highways will be toll-free during off-peak hours and toll rates will be 30% lower outside of peak hours.
“This is because the government is not an organisation looking to make a profit. We have taken out the element of profit and are doing it for the public good unlike private enterprises which must make a return,” he said.
The minister stressed that the highway takeover move will not incur cost to the government and that toll rates would not be increased. This is because the takeover will be financed through bond issuance, with congestion charges used to pay off the debt. The plan will also see consumers save up to RM180 million in toll charges during the concession period, he added.
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Singapore Straits Times (ST) fake news again..
ST not the same as our NST. Their ST are more credible.
NST, TV3, Utusan forreva credible.
NST mainly Uitm, Mara and IIU graduates. They don’t teach good ethics in journalism.
Never knew Ahchong, ahkow, ahLian graduated from Uitm, Mara & IIU. How did they managed to understand the syllabus?
That is the problem nowadays. So when they aren’t proficient in BM, they can easily misreport what was said in BM. That is the problem with alternative education.
This is hilarious..! I really hope your ‘kerabat’ didn’t graduated from there, or else they would turned up worse than you. If those journalists were ethically negative why would other newspapers nor tabloids wrote the same story but with different perspectives?
All rushing to claim fake news.
The irony is it always come from those spreading fake news all the time.
Read between the lines “we have not said no” but we have not said yes either..
“The date of the implementation is going to be decided by the cabinet”
That sounds like a yes to me.
The cabinet is toothless yesmen & women. If he never give the nod, it won’t go ahead. You can count on that.
Owh yes, yes! Manifesto ditepati! Hidup Tun!
How did ambiguity sounded like confirmation to you? Which language taught you that?
Politician’s speech technical, “we have not said no”, in other words “we have not said yes”
singapore media…trying their best to fooled malaysians
Yezz. This foreign interference in internal affairs.
Clare Brown: “Foreign interference? What foreign interference?” *goes back to writing articles unrelated to Sarawak*
Yesh. This foreign interference in internal affairs.
At this point, Singapore news outlet are more dependable than Malaysian counterpart. Their MSM don’t have them going around making fake news and being called out for doing so.
You’d rather get fooled by LGE right. He can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but he cannot fool all the people all the time.
At 93 still goin so strong. Tun M mmg terbaik.
Why do we need him to keep going strong and suck our money? Please spare us after your first time.
Tun M mantap! Can tarik henbrek U-turn dorifto until Takumi Fujiwara pun kalah menyujut. The new touge king of U-turns, twist-turns, and songlap turns! Salut you Tun, U dah jadi my idola!
Old man said cannot proceed becoz he needed the money for his flying sportscar project.
As if PH diehards cared about foreign interference in internal affairs when leading up to GE14.
“we have not said no” But you haven’t said yes, am right? Catch the double meaning of his words there?
Yessss… Let’s confuse the people. All is going according to keikaku.
the 3rd national car the cabinets said “yes”?
Like him, they never said no. So what does it mean?
Nvm lah. Don’t have to feel bad.
We are used to U-turn already.
U-turn is expected and nothing surprises us.
If there’s no U-turn, then we are surprised.
U-turn to save Billions. Nvm lah. Don’t feel bad.
Can we Uturn on the last election results as well? We feel like Uturning.
If he UTurns as well on the billions to be thrown into national flying car, then I won’t feel so bad.
Why is the ENTIRE Cabinet fixated on trivial things, things that will cost the taxpayers, low hanging fruits ???????
We have bigger issues to fix. We didn’t vote you buggers in so that it’s your turn to songlap and keep things as it is.
Low hanging fruits is not something you can do a press conference and gloat over it and think Mission Accomplished. You guys are supposed to set the future policies, to implement changes, to address the imbalances, to push the country towards a better tomorrow for our children. We’re not expecting changes tomorrow but at least have a time frame to fix it, prioritise the important issues to be addressed.
And for God sake, if you want to play internal party politics and scandal here there, go resign your ministerial position and let somebody else who can do the job be minister. We will vote you all out next GE if you still think of jostling for PM position and not show us that you’re serious in meeting your election promises.
This is our promise to you, we will vote you OUT should you fail us. Take heed.
Don’t say like that. You say like that, they will hurry to clear out the country’s money reserves before they get booted out. Do it silently like how PH did. One ‘good’ deed deserves another.
This u turn government is the best in the world
Looks like Malaysian fell for ‘it’.
What we fail to see is how media manipulate us. This is regardless who is in charge. Such is our political landscape.
In a good way, it helps promote transparency.
The bad thing is we loves news so much and uses the media so much that we forget about running a nation.
Drive fast fast, enter corner, simply tarik handbrake, TURN steering wheel….Spectacular U-turn surely.
Biasalah, the govt
Haha that is old snake for you which you all votes.right .