Selangor halts AES, wants independent study

The Selangor government will not allow the implementation of the Automated Enforcement System (AES) because the Road Transport Department (RTD) has failed to justify its merits, said Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

Khalid (left) said the decision was made at the state meeting yesterday following a presentation by the RTD.

“After listening to the briefing by RTD director general Solah Mat Hassan at the Selangor Economic Action Council (MTES) meeting yesterday, the state government has suggested to appoint an independent evaluater to study whether RTD has taken into consideration all the steps that ought to be taken, as a whole (to implement the system) before deciding to use and install the AES system,” said Khalid in a statement today.

He said from the RTD presentation the state concluded that the department has failed to obtain permission from the local councils for the construction of structures for the AES system.

“Precisely for this reason, the state government has instructed all local councils to inform the ministry that the installation of the AES is not according to the laws and cannot be implemented until the matter is rectified,” he said.

Khalid further said the contract between the federal government and the concessionaires offering a 17 percent profit was unfair, and that it had to be re-assessed before the system was implementation.

'Money should go back to the people'

He also said the money collected from the summonses should go back to the rakyat instead of benefiting a private company.

Khalid therefore proposed that collections be channelled back to a government trust fund that would be used to fund road safety awareness programmes.

“In this way, the people who pay their summonses would be contributing to the country and not to the wealth of businessmen,’’ he said. 

This, he added, would also allow the concessionaires to make enough to cover the expenses incurred in running the system and make a profit.

It would also encourage the companies to be judicious in installing AES cameras in strategic spots only and thereby reduce ballooning of the overall project cost.

“The Selangor government will not tolerate it if the concession company wants to collect excessive profits from the privatisation of the summonses, as in the end it’s the people who will have to bear the burden,’’ Khalid said.

The controversial AES has caused an uproar on both sides of the political divide for placing the interests of private companies over that of the central aim of ensuring traffic safety.

While Pakatan Rakyat has been the fiercest critic, even Umno Youth and Gerakan have spoken out on flaws in the project.

Selangor is the second Pakatan-run state to suspend the installation of the AES after Penang, while Kedah and Kelantan are both mulling similar action.