RM400 mil toll compensation angers Jeffrey

The Sabah assemblyman slams Putrajaya for ignoring Sabah and Sarawak when agreeing to subsidise motorists plying roads in the peninsula.

KOTA KINABALU: The federal government’s recent decision to compensate toll operators and concessionaires in Peninsular Malaysia to the tune of RM400 million, is another injustice to motorists in Sabah, said a Sabah assemblyman.

Opposition STAR Sabah chief, Jeffrey Kitingan expressed anger that while motorists in the peninsula are getting RM400 million compensation package, which is the highest annual amount to-date and will add up to RM1.53 billion subsidy, Sabah motorists are getting nothing but a snub from the federal government.

“It is as though Sabah motorists and Sabah are not part of the federation of Malaysia but in another alien county,” he said.
He called the decision another injustice done to Sabah where road conditions and infrastructure are still mediocre and making a 50km trip can take several hours.

“It’s another day to ponder when the federal government will treat Sabahans as equal Malaysians.

“It’s another day to wonder when will the Sabah government leaders look after the interests of Sabah and Sabahans and stop the unfair and unjust treatment,” he added.

He was commenting on Putrajaya’s about turn on its plans to raise toll rates.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the reversal as part of the government’s plan to tackle the rising cost of living in the country.

The move will cost the government RM400 million in taxpayers money paid as compensation to the various toll concessionaires, which Putrajaya had earlier said it could not afford if it was to cut the federal deficit.

‘At least built better roads’

Putrajaya had earlier raised electricity rates by 15% and pump prices rose 20 sen per litre, saying it had to cut the energy subsidy bill that costs some RM24 billion a year.

“There is no doubt that the government made a u-turn (on their decision),” Kitingan  said, adding that it set a bad example as it showed a government not being able to fully evaluate and appraise themselves before announcing a decision.

“Kudos to the people for having won the day and forcing the government to overturn its decision,” said  Kitingan.

The Bingkor assemblyman added that if the federal government thought that Sabah motorists do not deserve compensation, they should at least build better roads in Sabah.

Federal leaders, he said, were out of touch with reality when they come to Sabah with their entourage and travel by helicopter while Sabah leaders also tend to make exhaustive preparations before they go to the villages where infrastructure is rudimentary to non-existent.

The only “highway” linking Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan is worse than some kampong roads in Malaya and is narrower than roads in Lawas, Sarawak, by two feet, he pointed out .

“It is full of pot-holes that are re-sealed by patching or “main tampal-tampal” in local lingo and many stretches are unsealed after repairs, probably due to lack of funds from JKR,” he said.

“There is barely any room for error when two big lorries pass each other. Any error of either lorry is punished by an accident as happened recently in Telupid when two trailers collided.

“Many roads are uneven, more like sea-waves than a highway road. In wet and rainy conditions, lorries and cars are known to have veered into side-drains or overturned as happened recently on the KK-Tambunan road,” he said.

Despite such a sorry state, the federal government calls the main roads part of the Pan-Borneo Highway and allocated just RM500 million for it in the Budget 2014.

People in the peninsula, he said, will not be able to imagine the atrocious conditions of Sabah’s rural roads and village dirt tracks unless they came and travelled on these roads and tracks.