Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng says the 17-year toll extension on the Penang bridge is a punishment on Penang folk.
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP leaders have cried foul over the revised toll concession rates which they say are a “punishment on Penanigites”.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that new structure of the toll concessions was a “hidden increase” to further burden the people, especially Penangites.
UEM Group Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), joint owners of PLUS Expressways Bhd (PEB), said yesterday that all toll concessions would now expire on Dec 31, 2038.
They said they waived their right to some RM6.5 billion in compensation in exchange for extensions to the concession periods up to 2038 for the three highways.
Thus, toll concessions for Elite (which is to end on May 31, 2030), Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE) (ending June 27, 2026), and the Penang Bridge (Dec 31, 2021) would be extended.
Lim today said that the additional 17-year increase to the Penang Bridge toll concession was unfair to Penangites.
“I thought my kids would stop paying toll but now it looks like even my grandkids would have to pay toll…even your grandkids would have to pay,” said the Bagan MP in parliament today.
Lim said that all toll concessionaires in the country have made their profit and thus should cease operations instead of burdening the people.
Quoting a parliamentary answer to his question in June, Lim said that there were 27 toll highways in operation.
The construction cost for them was RM25 billion and they have yielded a return of RM37.7 billion as of the end of last year.
“They have all made their profit so why do we have to pay toll any longer, why are their concessions being extended, they should be extinguished,
“Take the North South Expressway, the construction cost was about RM6 million, their returns are about RM 23.5 million, their profit is almost three-fold,” Lim said.
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Lim said that construction cost almost always includes operational costs and thus the companies would still yield profits, citing the Penang Bridge.
“The construction cost was RM943.54 million. The initial cost was only about RM600 million, that means the renovation and operations costs were already accounted for,” he said.
Petaling Jaya Utara MP, Tony Pua said that with the 17-year extension and the 11 year extension on the BKE it certainly looked as though Penangites are being “punished”
“The Malaysia-Singapore Second Crossing (Linkedua) and the North South Expressway (NSE) will expire in 2038 without any extension but not BKE and the Penang Bridge,” said Pua
On another matter, Lim also questioned DPM Muhyiddin Yassin’s motive for questioning the construction of an underground tunnel linking Gurney Drive and the north district of Seberang Perai.
Lim added that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak attended the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China which expressed interest in construction of the project.
Lim said that Najib was all smiles when the MoU was signed and questioned why his deputy was singing a different tune.
“The project has yet to begin. I hope that the deputy prime minister would not make announcements based on false information,” said Lim.
He added that the state government intended to have an open tender for the peoject despite an interest expressed by a Chinese construction company.
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