Minister Says Motorists Save 83% From Toll Hike Delay

BusinessToday

6 days ago

Class 1 highway users would have had to fork over up to 83 per cent more on tolls along 10 highways if the government had not postponed rate hikes this year.
Addressing the Dewan Rakyat, Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the impact on motorists would have been 'significant', noting there is a huge gap between the toll rates charged and the ones stipulated in concession deals.
'The quantum of toll rate hikes for Class 1 vehicles under the concession agreements for the 10 highways involved ranges from 50 sen to RM4.56, or an increase of between 79 per cent and 83 per cent,' he said in Parliament here today.
He was responding to a question about the implication on highway users if the government did not postpone the rate hike increase for 2025, as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on July 23.
The 10 highways are the Cheras-Kajang Expressway, KL-Kuala Selangor Expressway, New North Klang Straits Bypass, Senai-Desaru Expressway, East Coast Expressway Phase 2, South Klang Valley Expressway, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge, Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway, Maju Expressway (MEX), and Butterworth Outer Ring Road.
Alexander said that for highways with an open toll system, users save between 50 sen and RM4.56 for Class 1 vehicles, RM1 to RM6.80 (Class 2), RM1.40 to RM15.30 (Class 3), 20 sen to RM1.90 (Class 4), and 20 sen to RM5.70 (Class 5).
For closed toll system, users will save from 3.36 sen/km to 5.99 sen/km (Class 1), 2.4 sen/km to 8.98 sen/km (Class 2), 3.6 sen/km to 11.98 sen/km (Class 3), 1.68 sen/km to 3.01 sen/km (Class 4), and 3.36 sen/km to 6.86 sen/km (Class 5).
Class 1 covers private vehicles with two axles, Class 2 small goods vehicles, Class 3 large trucks with three or more axles, Class 4 taxis, and Class 5 buses.
Citing an example, Alexander said a Class 1 vehicle user commuting to work via the Putrajaya Toll Plaza on the MEX would enjoy savings of RM6.80 for a round trip, which amounts to RM136 for 20 working days a month, or RM1,632 a year.
'However, to ease the people's burden, the Madani government, out of concern for the rising cost of living, has agreed to postpone toll hikes,' he said, adding that the freeze will benefit over 941,000 highway users.
Alexander said as a result of postponing the toll hikes for 10 highways, the government will bear an estimated RM568.92 million for concessionaires, although this is subject to actual traffic volume and operating audit.
In response to a supplementary question on whether the federal government intends to abolish tolls altogether, the minister said it would be extremely difficult to implement as it would cost billions of ringgit to just maintain highways.
Doing so would mean lower funds for states like Terengganu, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak, where drivers are not frequent toll users, he added.
'What I can say is that once concessionaires recover their returns on investment, we can lower toll rates. That is more practical and realistic,' Alexander said. Related