Jumaat, Disember 15, 2006

M'sians outraged by steep increase

Malaysiakini
Dec 14, 06 8:12pm

Consumer associations and NGOs have come out strongly against the government’s decision to raise toll rates for five highways in the Klang Valley by at least 20 percent as announced by Works Minister S Samy Vellu this afternoon.

The hikes, they said, were the latest in a series of price increases including for petrol and utilities which have raised the cost of living sharply for the lower-income groups.

The groups condemned the move, saying that these latest hikes would further spur a rise in living costs.

They said the move was unjustified coming soon after the nation's steepest ever fuel price hike early this year followed by an increase in electricity tariffs in June.

The toll rate hikes, which will take effect Jan 1, affects the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) highway, the Kesas highway, the Cheras-Kajang highway, the Cheras-Kajang highway, the Kuala Lumpur-Karak highway and the Guthrie Corridor Expressway.

The rate increases vary from between 30 sen to one ringgit.

Below are excerpts of their comments.

Dr Jacob George, president and legal adviser, Consumer Association of Subang and Shah Alam (Cassa)

The nightmare begins. We will see a snowballing effect on the prices of goods and services where private agencies affected by the toll hike will pass on their costs to consumers.

It confirms the fears of all consumers that the secret contractual agreements between the government and the highway concessionaires have been totally one-sided. The increase has been dictated to consumers without their interests being taken into consideration.

The hike also clearly shows that the government is not practising what it preaches. The government has told enterprises not to increase prices, but they do the same themselves.

It once again raises a lot of questions on the need for transparency in terms of the government’s contractual agreements.

This is becoming a comedy of errors. The governments is allowing the fat cats, the highway concessionaires, who until today have not done any service to the nation, to get away with this.

Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, communications director, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca)

Fomca is against the toll hike. We have questioned the government repeatedly on the need to expose the highway concessionaire agreements which are biassed against the consumer.

We have informed the government that the agreements may be prolonged for a reasonable length of years. In other words, unless there is no hike, the government can prolong the length of the agreements.

We are willing to settle for a compromise, but we do not support or agree to any toll rate hike.

Er Sui See, president, Pan-Malaysia Lorry Drivers Association of Malaysia

It’s very unfair. Why is the government out to make money?

The highways were originally designed to cope with one million vehicles in traffic a year. The number of vehicles has gone up, and has offset the original projection already. We are somewhere in the region of three million. The areas where these new toll hikes hit see heavy commercial operations daily.

The agreements have become lopsided. We lorry operators are going to be very badly affected. We are paying twice the amount of private cars. And we also have to handle the higher diesel price.

The lorries are part of the service industry, not just transport, and we are carrying goods for everybody. Any toll hike will have spin-off effects.

We request the government to review all contracts signed with highway concessionaires. We shouldn't be subject to the demands of the concessionaires.

Syed Shahrir Syed Mohamad, president, Malaysian Trade Union Congress

First of all I want to record our sincere disappointment in this sad announcement by this government.

As far as the toll hikes are concerned, it will be an additional burden to the consumers, in particular the people at the lower rungs. This new burden is now coupled with the prices hikes for petrol, utility, services and goods.

The works minister said that comparatively, the increase is lower than what has been made by other countries.

I would like to ask what other countries are we are talking about? If you are talking about Korea, you have to consider the income of the Korean people.

You can say we are low in terms of the toll rates but in terms of income salary, if you want to compare, you have to be objective about it.

Secondly, we have to look closer at the standard of the roads there. I know the standard of roads and tunnels in Korea or Japan are of very high quality. From my little experience, you don’t have to queue so long. You go to Batu Tiga, you have to queue up for about a kilometre.

I think it is rather unfair on the part of the government to say that users have to pay for the highway concessionaires’ compensation. Who drafted the agreements? Who is putting the blame on whom? Nobody knows what is inside the agreement.

The public has the right to know what is inside the agreements. You talk about transparency, the public ought to know all this. I think the public now has to act seriously. You just can’t allow this government to increase and increase.

PC Yeoh, president, United Subang Jaya Residents Association (USJRA)

I have lost faith in the government. The two things I cannot tolerate are that the government signed concessionaire agreements where consumers lose both ways and that the government is not open about the contractual terms.

The highways’ traffic growth has also grown beyond their computations. The highway concessionaires should be able to cover any maintenance costs without increasing the toll rates.

There is no real competition in highway construction too. When the contracts are awarded, there is no check against people whacking up the prices.

If it continues at this rate, the government has signed very stupid agreements. They are not taking in the interests of the consumer.

The government has promoted the use of public transport, but they should make sure everything is in place first, so we can leave our cars behind. It’s a Catch-22 situation for residents here. I use my car because the public transport here is not reliable. We have had to deal with high petrol costs since early this year and now you slap us with this increase in toll rates. We lose either way.

Also, I would like to remind the government that we as consumers pay our road taxes. By virtue of this, we shouldn’t be charged with tolls in the first place.

Khamis, Disember 14, 2006

Govt Announces Toll Rates Hike At Five Highways From Jan 1

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (Bernama) -- Toll rates at five highways in and around the Klang Valley will be raised between 30 sen and RM1, starting Jan 1 next year, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu announced Thursday.

The five highways involved are Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP), Lebuhraya Shah Alam, Lebuhraya Cheras-Kajang, Lebuhraya KL-Karak and Lebuhraya Koridor Guthrie.

The new toll rates for LDP will be RM1.60, an increase of 60 sen, Lebuhraya Shah Alam -- RM2.20 (up 70 sen), Lebuhraya Cheras-Kajang -- RM1 (Batu 9) and 90 sen (Batu 11) (both 30 sen more), Lebuhraya KL-Karak -- RM5 (Gombak) (RM1 higher) and RM3 (Bentong) (50 sen more) and Lebuhraya Koridor Guthrie -- RM1.40 (up 40 sen). These rates are for cars classified as Class 1.

The minister said if the government had allowed the five concessionaires to raise toll rates according to the concession agreement, then the burden on the consumers would have been much higher.

The LDP toll would have reached RM2.10, Lebuhraya Shah Alam (RM2.40), Lebuhraya Cheras-Kajang (RM1.20 -- Batu 9) (RM1.10 -- Batu 11) and Lebuhraya KL-Karak (RM8.80 -- Gombak) (RM3.70 -- Bentong).

Starting Jan 1, the toll rates at the LDP, which was built at a cost of RM1.5 billion, will be RM3.60 for Class 2 vehicles, RM5.40 (Class 3), 90 sen (Class 4) and RM1.80 (Class 5).

Users of Lebuhraya Shah Alam, constructed at a cost of RM1.3 billion, would have to pay RM3.30 (Class 2), RM4.40 (Class 3), RM1.10 (Class 4) and RM1.70 (Class 5).

At the RM303 million Lebuhraya Cheras Kajang (Batu 9), consumers will have to fork out RM2 (Class 2 and 3), 50 sen (Class 4) and RM1 (Class 5). For the Batu 11 toll, users will be charged RM1.80 (Class 2 and 3), 50 sen (Class 4) and 90 sen (class 5).

At the Lebuhraya Koridor Guthrie, developed at a cost of RM862 million, users will pay RM2.80 (Class 2), RM4.20 (Class 3), 70 sen (Class 4) and RM1.40 (Class 5).

At the Gombak toll of the RM500 million Lebuhraya KL-Karak, motorists will pay RM10 (Class 2), RM15 (Class 3), RM2.50 (Class 4) and RM5 (Class 5). At the Bentong toll of the same highway, they will have to pay RM6 (Class 2), RM9 (Class 3), RM1.50 (Class 4) and RM3 (Class 5).

Class 1 is for cars, Class 2 for lorries below one tonne, Class 3 for big lorries and trailers, Class 4 for taxis, and Class 5 for buses.

-- BERNAMA

Toll rates: 20%-60% hike!

Malaysiakini
Dec 14, 06 4:21pm

The government today announced a whooping increase in toll rates of between 20 to 60 percent along five major highways in the Klang Valley.

Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) saw its toll rate rise from RM1 to RM1.60, an increase of 60 percent.

As for the Kesas Highway, the rate increased from RM1.50 to RM2.20, a 47-percent hike.

The Cheras-Kajang Highway's Batu 9 toll increased from 70 sen to RM1, while the Cheras-Kajang Batu 11 toll went up to 90 sen from 60 sen - a hike of between 43 and 50 percent.

The Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway's Gombak toll is now at RM5, an increase of RM1, while the highway's Bentong toll will increased by 50 sen to RM3. The hikes along this highway are the lowest, between 20 and 25 percent.

Meanwhile, the Guthrie Corridor Expressway toll rate went up from RM1 to RM1.40 - a 40-percent increase.

The new toll rates were announced by Works Minister S Samy Vellu this afternoon and will be effective on Jan 1 next year.