Toll-free highways in Selangor if PAN wins Sungai Besar

And the voters will be so happy that probably in 2018 or 2023 Pakatan Harapan would be able to take over Putrajaya after which it can declare no more toll, no more road tax, no more import duty and taxes on cars, no more cukai pintu and cukai tanah, no more tax on petrol, no more GST, no more tax on cigarettes and liquor, and much more.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng wants the voters in the Kuala Kangsar and Sungai Besar by-elections to vote for PAN’s candidates as a message to the Federal Government that they oppose toll increases. Okay, what happens if PAN loses both by-elections? Is Guan Eng then going to announce that this is proof that Malaysians have no problems with paying toll increases?

In 1999, PAS announced that if they were to win Terengganu they would abolish toll charges on the Terengganu Bridge. They did win Terengganu and they abolished the toll charges on the bridge. They even abolished cukai pintu at the same time and, of course, all the Terengganu voters were very happy.

This was costing the state a lot of money but they could afford it because Terengganu was receiving about RM1 billion a year in oil royalty. Two months later, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad cancelled the oil royalty to Terengganu although under the Petroleum Development Act 1974 the state is entitled (by law) to the 5% oil royalty and in 1976 Petronas had signed an Agreement with Terengganu.

So Mahathir was in violation of both the Act of Parliament as well as a legally binding contract. But Mahathir did not care. He knew that Terengganu would bring the case to court but the case can be dragged on and on until Barisan Nasional takes back the state. And then the new Barisan Nasional government of Terengganu can drop the case.

And this was precisely what happened.

So, two months after PAS took the state, Terengganu found itself short of RM1 billion a year. And it had expenses of RM600 million a year to pay. So how will the state do that? The state had to shift its revenue to timber (which means it had to cut more trees to pay the salaries and other costs) instead of conserving the forests as what it should have done.

But then the state could only raise RM300 million a year, half the amount that it needed to pay its RM600 million a year cost. And this meant serious cost cutting to bring down the RM600 million cost to just RM300 million.

So development had to stop, overtime and travelling for government officers were no longer allowed (it was just 9-5 and office bound), and so on. I mean you had to cut your expenses by half so a lot of sacrifices had to be made.

The state succeeded in reducing its cost to just RM300 million but it made everyone very unhappy and in 2004 the voters gave the state back to Barisan Nasional so that they need not suffer economically.

Lim Guan Eng said seven of the one dozen toll highways are in Selangor. Actually Selangor can solve this problem easily enough and at the same time meet Pakatan Harapan’s election promise of removing all toll charges.

The Selangor State Government can instruct the toll highway concessionaires to remove the toll charges and allow highway users to drive on those highways free of charge. Of course, according to the concession agreement, the concessionaires would need to be paid compensation.

But then this would be a legal requirement, which if you want to give the voters toll-free highways as you promised then this has to be paid. But that is a small sacrifice to suffer for making the voters happy and for fulfilling your election promise.

The alternative would be the Selangor State Government could remove all the tollbooths by force and then let the concessionaires sue the government in court, like what Mahathir did with Terengganu. The case is going to be so big that it will drag on for years, probably even a decade. But by then Pakatan Harapan will be the Federal Government anyway (as they say they are) so as the Federal Government you can abuse your power and force the courts to reject all the cases against Selangor.

If Lim Guan Eng can stop screaming and instead do something (considering seven of the 12 toll highways are in Selangor) then this matter can be resolved very fast. And the voters will be so happy that probably in 2018 or 2023 Pakatan Harapan would be able to take over Putrajaya after which it can declare no more toll, no more road tax, no more import duty and taxes on cars, no more cukai pintu and cukai tanah, no more tax on petrol, no more GST, no more tax on cigarettes and liquor, and much more.

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Reject BN in twin polls if you don’t want toll hikes, DAP urges voters

(Malay Mail Online) – Those opposed to toll rate hikes should send a strong message to Barisan Nasional (BN) by voting for Pakatan Harapan’s candidates in the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today.

Lim said he was disappointed by Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof’s refusal state if eight highway concessionaires would exercise their right to increase toll rates this year.

“The fact that BN can consider increasing toll rates of eight highways this year and four more next year even before polling day for the two by-elections on June 18, shows how BN will sacrifice the many at the expense of the few cronies.

“If the people do not want toll hikes then they should send a strong message by rejecting BN in the two by-elections,” the Penang chief minister said in a statement.

Last year, Fadillah said that eight highways — the North-South Expressway, Second Link Expressway, ELITE Highway, Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, Seremban-Port Dickson Highway, Kesas Highway, LDP, and the North Klang Straits Bypass Expressway — would be entitled to increase toll rates in 2016.

Besides that, four other highways — GCE (Guthrie Corridor Expressway), LEKAS (Lebuhraya Kajang Seremban), SDE (Senai Desaru Expressway) and EDL (Eastern Dispersal Link) — are entitled to do the same in 2017.

“Of the 12 highways with toll hikes increases, seven of them are from Selangor, which is why the Sungai Besar voters can play an important role in shaping the debate on unjustifiable and unfair toll hikes,” Lim argued.

The Malaysian Association of Highway Concession Companies (PSKLM) said today there has been no final decision on a higher toll rate for expressways in the country.

Its vice-president Sazally Said said negotiations between the concession companies and the government were still ongoing.