Where did you get the idea, Khalid asks Najib on ‘toll forever under PH’

 

Khalid Samad has reminded Najib Razak that under PH’s plan, the ‘toll collection ends when the concession ends’.

PETALING JAYA: Amanah communications director Khalid Samad has hit back at former prime minister Najib Razak for saying that the previous Pakatan Harapan administration had planned to collect tolls “forever”.

Khalid said PH’s proposal was to relieve the public of the financial burden placed on them by the earlier Barisan Nasional government.

“PH’s proposal was for the government to buy over the four tolls and provide a 30% discount to all users who use them during off-peak times. Those using them during peak hours, however, would be charged the existing undiscounted rate,” he said in a statement.

On April 5, Najib called out PH for claiming credit for the takeover of four Klang Valley highway concessionaires, saying the coalition’s plan when it was in power was to collect fees “forever”.

He wrote on his Facebook page that there were stark differences between the PH administration’s proposal to reduce toll rates in 2019 and the current government’s announcement on the restructuring of the toll concessions.

Khalid said he was surprised by how Najib came up with the idea that PH would be collecting tolls forever.

“Suffice to say the toll concession period was not mentioned in the proposal as there would be no change. Toll collection, albeit with discounts, would end when the concession ends,” he said.

In an immediate response on Facebook, Najib said he got the information from a media statement which Lim Guan Eng issued on June 26, 2019 when he was the finance minister.

In the statement, he said, Lim promised that toll charges would be replaced with congestion charges at the same rate, adding that these congestion charges – which would be reduced – would continue to be collected after the concession period expired.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced on April 4 that there would be no further increase in toll rates for the LDP, SMART, SPRINT and Kesas highways following an agreement to restructure the highway toll concessions.

He said the government had agreed to a proposal to restructure the toll concessions for these highways that would see the existing toll rates remain until the end of their concession periods.

The following day, the PH presidential council said the government’s announcement on restructuring highway toll concessions was the result of an effort the coalition initiated in October 2019, when its Cabinet decided to commence the process of taking over the four highways. - FMT