Toll still lowest in the world, says Samy Toll

The Star says:

No matter how the Government would want to mitigate the increase, it surely is a New Year present city folks can do without.

But the fact is that the Government has little option.

Under the toll concession agreements approved in the 1990s, the Government has to reimburse the operators if traffic volumes and revenues fall short of the projections.

Many of us like to think that toll operators are walking away with piles of gold, but the reality is otherwise. The other reality, which many of us are not aware of, is that highway users are heavily subsidised.

The affected toll operators are not making excessive profits, as some of us would imagine, because detailed analyses showed a 20% drop in traffic projection.

Heavier traffic volume along certain tolled highways need not necessarily mean higher collection because there are escape routes, which most of us are aware of.

Motorists are also not paying the full toll rate. Take for example, the 40km Damansara-Puchong highway. By right, the real toll should be RM2.10 on Jan 1 but a 50 sen subsidy for users is keeping the amount lower.

In short, the Government has to fork out RM2.06bil each year until 2010 to keep toll rates affordable to users.

That’s a huge amount and certainly which can be used for other socio-economic projects such as the construction of schools, public transport and hospitals. But the political reality is that we expect the Government to make it less painful for us.

The principle of burden sharing is being applied here.

...it cannot be denied that the construction of these highways has led to economic growth in residential and commercial areas along these highways. It has made traveling easier and faster. Certainly, there is value for money for road users in the capital.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Government was mindful of the burden such an increase was on the public, but had no choice.

“It is not something that we wanted, but the important thing to understand is that, for us to have world-class infrastructure, somebody has to pay for it.

“You can’t have quality highways without being willing to pay for it. So we decided we had no choice but to go ahead and it is on the basis of sharing the burden,” Najib said.

Najib said sharing the burden meant the Government would have to fork out a considerable amount of money that could have been spent on development. “However, we use it to keep toll rates at a level lower than otherwise,” he added.

Samy Vellu said the government had to pay Litrak, the concessionaire for the LDP, RM150 million in compensation besides giving it a one-year extension.

For the Shah Alam Highway, compensation amounted to RM371.8 million and a two-year extension.

Compensation for Cheras-Kajang Highway was RM226.69 million and a one-year extension.

For the KL-Karak Highway, it was RM1.197 billion and a six-year extension.

Samy Vellu said the government had tried to make the toll increase as manageable as possible.

"But we cannot do away with tolls as we do not print money. We get money from taxes and some is used to subsidise toll rates," he added.

Asked whether the hike was fair to road users, Samy Vellu said: "Of course, it’s not fair. The government can pay for everything and allow the roads to be free.

"If someone wants something, he has to pay for it."

He said despite the hike, local toll rates were among the lowest in the world.


If you need to hear bull-shits or want to learn how to bull-shit, read all these explanations.

Traffic projection drops by 20%? What bullllll-shittttt!

Toll operators not making excessive profits? Another world record of bull-shits!

Highway users are heavily subsidised? Ya, because the concession agreement terms were lop-sided and the negotiator is Samy himself; ask JKR.

All those compensation was entirely due to the fact that the original agreement were entirely lop-sided in favor of the concessionaires, with "incentive" clauses which would ultimately caused the government to pay large sums of cash compensation which helps assist the concessionaires to pay for more than half the construction cost and the payback period were thus shortened by 5 years. Literally, concessionaires need to collect tool for about 5 years to fully recover the investments (Payback Period)and as the toll agreement is about 33 years, you can understand the balance 28 years of toll collection is absolutely a golden goose laying diamond eggs with a super clause to allow further hike in toll every 4-5 years.

The citizens had to decide what type of government they wanted and what level of inflation they can bear.

The toll hike is about the last call for Samy as he prepares to retire with some golden hand-shake.