They called (bloody in vain, of course) for the postponement of the increase in toll charges affecting the Cheras-Kajang and four other highways in the Klang Valley.
They also demanded that one of the concessionaires, Grand Saga Sdn Bhd, re-open the Bandar Mahkota Cheras access road that had been blocked since October 2005.
As a rule, when there are toll charges, the public should be provided with the option of taking the no-toll alternatives which would usually be the older and less modern roads. In the general case the majority of the public would choose the toll-ed highways for efficiency, comfort and safety. But that choice must be theirs, and theirs alone.
But in Malaysia, such alternatives are deliberately blocked up to ensure the public have no choice but to take the toll-ed roads. The aim is of course bloody obvious; the government obviously has no shame nor compunction in its anti-public pro-concessionaire action - that is, to milk the bloody users to the max to ensure the concessionaires get their profit.
And indeed this vampirish (blood-sucking) tactic has worked magnificently because Lim Kit Siang of the DAP revealed that the Highway concessionaire Litrak has been raking in millions of ringgit in profit.
The company’s 2006 annual report revealed that it recorded a net profit of RM80 million, an increase of 43 percent from its net profit at RM56 million in year 2005.
Additionally the report showed that Litrak had set a new record after collecting RM243 million revenue for its financial year ending on March 31, 2006, as opposed to RM227 million it collected for the year before.
As such the DAP argued that there shouldn’t be any need for the company to seek nor merit a rise in the toll rate.
Litrak - which operates the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP) highway - will be the biggest beneficiary of the Jan 1 toll hike with a 60% increase of toll charges. There is something dodgy going on here.
Then to add insult to injury, the so-called highways operated by Litrak would be congested at peak hours, thus ensuring people paid toll to have the dubious privilege of joing traffic jams. If this is not unnecessarily gouging the public, what then is? The DAP demanded (yawnnn) that concessionaire reduce traffic congestions at the toll plazas along the LDP highway during peak hours.
The opposition party also urged the authorities to do the right thing, namely to build alternative roads before the toll plazas or allowing U-turn before these toll plazas along the LDP highway. Hahaha, bloody dreamers.
The DAP protest came after the MCA held a brief protest against the toll hikes at the same venue.
Why is the government abetting those favoured concessionaires, already enjoying huge profits and government subsidies, in gouging more money out of the road users, and in circumstances where the public had no choice but to pay up to get anywhere.
For example, the pissed-off people of Puchong complained they are surrounded by toll-ed highways like General Custer was by the Sioux and Cheyenne nations at Little Big Horn. The Puchongites have been prepared by their government for jolly good scalping.
Me Sh*tting Bull: "
No wonder the MCA has been worried by its association with the government and forced into a sandiwara demonstration.
Related:
MCA Puching forced into aping DAP
Anyone know who're the owners of these toll companies? I think it's a good idea to publicize them - put their pics on the internet.
ReplyDeleteIt's important to let the public know how these crooks look like so that if we happened to see one of these scums drowning, we dont unknowningly helped them and thus unwittingly contributed to the miseries of human beings.