Toll rate adjustments to be presented to Cabinet soon - Rosnah

The Ministry of Works will present the outcome of the meetings of a special committee on the issue of toll rate adjustments to the Cabinet soon.

Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said the committee had met three times and the outcome of the meetings would be forwarded to the Cabinet for further decisions to be made.

"The meeting was co-chaired by Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.

"It (committee) also comprises representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the Public Private Partnership Unit of the Prime Minister's Department, the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA), which will negotiate with concessionaires.

"I understand there will be no more meetings after this and the outcome of the meeting will be presented in the near future," she told Bernama today.

She was commenting on her reply, during the question-and-answer session, to a supplementary question from Senator Zali Mat Yasin regarding toll rates for next year at Dewan Negara today.

READ: PLUS toll rate expected to increase next year

Fadillah had previously been reported as saying that there were eight highways that qualified for the toll hike next year but the increase had yet to be finalised.

The highways concerned were the North South Expressway (PLUS), the Second Link Highway, North-South Expressway Central Link (Elite), Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE), Seremban-Port Dickson Highway, Shah Alam Expressway (KESAS), Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP) and the New North Klang Straits Bypass (NNKSB).

Th public have been abuzz, including on social media on the increase of tolls on some highways that would also add to their burden as various public transport fares have also been recently increased.

To a question from Senator Datuk Seri Syed Ibrahim Kader on the status of the Batu Tiga and Sungai Rasau tolls, which were among the oldest tolls in the country, she said the government did not intend to abolish the tolls in the two locations.

She said that based on a survey conducted in 2012, the proposed abolition of the two toll plazas would involve very high financial implications to the government, that is an estimated RM2 billion, she said.

Rosnah explained, at the same time, it would also affect the reduction of traffic on the nearby highway (KESAS) following the issue of traffic diversion from tolled to non tolled highways.

However, to reduce the financial burden on consumers, the government had decided to maintain the toll rates at the two toll plazas since 2005 (although PLUS concession agreements were revised in 2008 and 2011), she said.

She said the move meant that users still enjoyed lower toll rates at both toll plazas compared to those according to the concession agreement.