Tony Pua’s DAP propaganda on abolishing toll roads is dishonest and unrealistic
Eric See-To
In a recent DAP propaganda video about abolishing toll highways, Tony Pua tried to insinuate that PM Najib Razak was to blame for the MEX highway concession and trying to enrich their crony.
He said the MEX highway concession agreement is extremely lop-sided because he said that RM976.7 million was paid for by Malaysian tax-payers via a grant to the concession holder which constitutes 74% of the total cost of construction for the RM1.32 billion highway.
Perhaps Tony Pua had forgotten that it was himself who issued a statement on 18th April 2012 titled “Dr Mahathir’s criticism of Maju Expressway sale smacks of hypocrisy and false righteousness when it was him who awarded the concession to Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed“?
In his statement, Tony Pua pointed this out saying:
“Dr Mahathir’s argument is twisted and illogical on the simple basis that it was he himself who had awarded this lopsided concession agreement to Tan Sri Abu Sahid in 1997 and subsequent revised the agreement and terms of the concession in 2003 prior to his retirement.”
Thus it is dishonest for Tony Pua to insinuate that it is PM Najib who is responsible for this concession agreement and for trying to enrich BN’s crony when it was his Pakatan Chairman as well as their PM candidate himself who is responsible.
Tony Pua also implied that Pakatan can buy back MEX highways for only RM400mil – completely ignoring that the owner of the Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd has outstanding bank loans of close to RM1.6 billion (see attached image)
This would mean that if the govt only pays RM400mil then our banks would have to suffer RM1.6 billion in losses. In the end, the govt will still have to bear the burden of this loan unless it is willing to allow the banks to suffer these losses for just MEX highway alone.
Tony also insinuates that the LDP highway, also approved and completed during Tun Mahathir’s time can be bought back for about RM300mil.
However, he completely ignores the fact that the LDP highway is the crown jewel of the Bursa-listed concession highway company LITRAK Bhd which also owns the SPRINT highway.
LITRAK currently has a share market value of RM3.01 billion and bank loans and outstanding bonds of around RM1.5 billion.
This would mean that even if you can buy back LDP for RM300mil, you would be destroying another RM3 billion in market value and also asking the banks and bondholders to suffer RM1.5 billion in loans.
LITRAK major shareholders are mostly funds such as EPF, ASB, Amanahraya trustees, KWAP, unit trusts as well as 7% retail investors.
Is Pakatan then saying that they will allow these government funds as well as private investors who had bought shares in LITRAK on our Bursa stock exchange to suffer RM3 billion in losses?
What Pakatan does not tell you is that the largest toll highways company in Malaysia is PLUS Highways Berhad and that it was PM Najib who instructed that this company is completely brought back from the private companies in 2011 and is now 51% owned by the government and 49% owned by EPF.
The second largest toll highways company is PROLINTAS Bhd which is owned by PNB via the various funds such as Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) and ASW.
Therefore, Pakatan’s manifesto promise to abolish all tolls in Malaysia within 5 years is unrealistic and does not take into account the extended financial system and the follow on losses to not just the government but to the retirement savings and investment of the Rakyat – collectively estimated to amount to about RM400 billion in losses to all.
Additionally, most of the existing toll highways in Malaysia are in the richer west coast of peninsular Malaysia with no toll roads in Sabah and Sarawak.
Thus abolishing all toll roads would essentially mean subsidizing the rich at the expense of the lower-income rural folks, the east coast of peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak where their retirements savings and investments will also take a hit.
This move would therefore further increase income inequality in Malaysia.
Compare this to the measured approach by PM Najib’s government to abolish toll gates as and when the government can afford to do this or when conditions are right such as when the government abolished four toll gates on 1st January 2018 – Batu Tiga, Sg Rasau, Bkt Kayu Hitam and Johor’s EDL.
However, Tony is correct to say that the MEX highway awarded by Tun Mahathir is extremely lop-sided as 76% of the construction cost was funded by the government but still allowed the concession company to collect tolls for 33 years.
But it is extremely disappointing that Tony is completely silent that the DAP Penang Government awarded an even more lop-sided concession agreement where the RM3.6 billion construction cost of the Penang Tunnel will be 100% funded by the Penang state government but still allowing the contractor to collect tolls for 30 years.
Will Tony Pua be taking his DAP boss Lim Guan Eng to task for an even more lop-sided toll concession that even beats the worst that Tun Mahathir was ever capable of?
I think not.
https://www.facebook.com/
Tony Pua’s 2012 statement on MEX highways:
https://dapmalaysia.org/
Tony Pua’s dishonest propaganda video: https://www.facebook.com/
