IT seems that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) presidential council’s statement in response to the toll restructuring exercise announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has invited some interesting but rather desperate responses.
Let me take this opportunity to reply to these responses.
One of the first to respond was the “malu apa” or “know no shame” Datuk Seri Najib Razak who although is publicly discredited still walks around with his head held high.
He is clearly the proverbial “thick skinned joker”. In his response he made the baseless accusation that the PH government’s plan was to collect the toll “forever”.
Being the shameless person that he is, he must think we are all as shameless as he. He forgets, quite conveniently, that our proposal was to relieve the rakyat of the financial burdens placed on them by his government, not to make money off the rakyat nor to rob the rakyat through shady schemes and characters like in his infamous 1MDB saga!
It would be justifiable for us to deduce that “to collect tolls forever” would be his proposal if he was still in power!
PH’s proposal was for the Government to buy over the four tolls and provide a 30% discount to all users who use it during off-peak times. Those using it during the peak hours however would be charged the current undiscounted rate.
Where the shameless man got the idea that we would be collecting the tolls forever is beyond me, just as much as to feel shame for robbing the nation of billions is beyond him.
Suffice to say the toll concession period was not mentioned in the proposal as there would be no change. Toll collection, albeit with discounts, would end when the concession ends.
The response from Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof was equally interesting.
He said that the BN government was already working on the plan to restructure the tolls since 2002 and as the PH Government was formed in 2018 – some 16 years later – we should not claim that the idea was from us.
I, frankly, was stunned by this response. How many years does it take for the BN Government to finalise a proposal?
We took less than two years. And for the minister to unabashedly admit that they had been working on it for 16 years, and all in a secret hiding room, as no one knew about it, one can only wonder if that is the normal level of efficiency that one can expect from the BN government.
Nonetheless it is now done. The BN/PN Government proposal surrenders the tolls to an unknown ‘non-profit but private entity’ named as “Amanah Lebuh Raya” or ‘ALR’ and through this, it is said, the Government pays nothing.
It is the ALR which pays Gamuda, somewhat less than what was in the PH proposal, presumably as two years have since passed and toll collections have been taken.
ALR would raise funds, probably through the raising of bonds and pay for these through the toll collection.
In the PH proposal the government would own the tolls, raising funds for its purchase through the sale of bonds as well which would then be paid for through the toll collection as well.
The difference is of course the discounts for the rakyat and the fact that ALR is a private entity.
The phrase ‘non-profit’ can be misleading as overheads and operating costs can be exaggerated and increased to result with a nett zero profit.
After all, what is to prevent ALR from awarding fat and lucrative projects to its crony companies for jobs undertaken?
And when the concession is over, the highways will still be handed over to the government.
It would be so much better for the government to take it over now while the tolls are being collected so as to ensure the highways are well maintained at all times and that there won’t be any surprises after the concession period.
Experience in running and maintaining the highways prior to the end of the concession period will also give a good and responsible government an insight as to what is required for its upkeep.
Nonetheless, I am sure the government is relieved to read Gamuda Deputy Group managing director Mohammed Rashdan Mohd Yusof’s explanation on how the current proposal is so much better for the government as it relieves the government of this responsibility and that responsibility.
However, he is missing the point. The whole purpose of the exercise, or so I thought, is not how it would relieve the government of this and that duty or responsibility but how it would reduce the burden on the rakyat.
In that aspect I believe even Mohammed Rashdan has no answer. The only benefit would be the possibility of a shorter concession period and even that, only if the rakyat uses the four highways and happily pay the present toll rates at a level of traffic higher than originally accounted for.
As such the PH proposal is a better offer for the rakyat. – April 7, 2022
Khalid Samad is Shah Alam MP and Parti Amanah Negara’s (Amanah) communication director.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
