Gov't weighing up allowing competition for Puspakom

PARLIAMENT | The government is looking into opening up its vehicle inspection service to other providers apart from Puspakom Sdn Bhd, to improve and upgrade the quality of the service.

Deputy Transport Minister Kamarudin Jaafar said a decision on the matter would be finalised after the authorities receive a report of the review, before the end of the year.

"If its plan is implemented, vehicle inspection service companies need to comply with the high standards and rules that have been imposed on Puspakom.

"They will also have to take into account factors like the small market and government-controlled rates on fees," he said at the question-and-answer session of the Dewan Rakyat today.

Kamaruddin was replying to Pang Hok Liong (Harapan-Labis) who wanted to know whether the ministry was willing to issue more licences to other companies to compete with Puspakom.

Commenting further, Kamaruddin said the market for customers or vehicles that were required to undergo inspection was low, and was estimated to be only eight percent of the total number of four-wheeled vehicles in the country.

“In addition to the small market, vehicle inspections carried out by Puspakom required high development and operation costs and for 2018, Puspakom had spent RM2 billion in operating expenses and RM550 million on development,” he said.

For the five years from 2013 to 2017, the average operating expenses of Puspakom had come up to RM9.7 million a month, while the average revenue collection is RM9.9 million a month, which meant its profits were about RM200,000 per month.

Kamaruddin said the government was also reviewing the Puspakom concession agreement which would expire on Aug 31, 2024.

- Bernama