PH’s pledge to abolish tolls unrealistic, says Wee
In its election manifesto, PH pledged to continue efforts to review highway concessions, with the goal of eventually abolishing tolls altogether on PLUS highways. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) pledge to abolish tolls on PLUS highways is unrealistic and will not be fulfilled, said transport minister Wee Ka Siong.
The MCA president said voters were aware that this promise would not be kept as PH had failed to implement a similar pledge when it came to power after the 2018 general election.
“Why bother making ‘sweet’ promises only to realise they cannot be kept in the end? When we see this ‘stale’ promise again, I think the people know it’s just a trick,” Astro Awani quoted him as saying.
Wee, who is defending his Ayer Hitam seat, said a government must be pragmatic when it involved the welfare of the people.
He added that he did not want Malaysians to be fooled by the opposition’s promises again.
In its election manifesto launched last week, PH pledged to continue efforts to review highway concessions, with the goal of eventually abolishing tolls altogether on PLUS highways.
DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng had also said PH could abolish tolls on the PLUS North-South Expressway if it had another five years in Putrajaya.
The former finance minister pointed out that PH had reduced toll fees for the highway by 18% when it was in power for 22 months.
PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) pledge to abolish tolls on PLUS highways is unrealistic and will not be fulfilled, said transport minister Wee Ka Siong.
The MCA president said voters were aware that this promise would not be kept as PH had failed to implement a similar pledge when it came to power after the 2018 general election.
“Why bother making ‘sweet’ promises only to realise they cannot be kept in the end? When we see this ‘stale’ promise again, I think the people know it’s just a trick,” Astro Awani quoted him as saying.
Wee, who is defending his Ayer Hitam seat, said a government must be pragmatic when it involved the welfare of the people.
He added that he did not want Malaysians to be fooled by the opposition’s promises again.
In its election manifesto launched last week, PH pledged to continue efforts to review highway concessions, with the goal of eventually abolishing tolls altogether on PLUS highways.
DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng had also said PH could abolish tolls on the PLUS North-South Expressway if it had another five years in Putrajaya.
The former finance minister pointed out that PH had reduced toll fees for the highway by 18% when it was in power for 22 months.
The original design of the PLUS concession was meant to be Build-Operate-Transfer.
ReplyDeleteWhich meant that PLUS would be given the opportunity to recoup its construction costs plus a reasonable profit, for a certain number of years but ultimately the North South Expressway would become Public Property.
A much lower toll, sufficient for maintenance costs would be appropriate to collect after that .
Instead, under BN Government, the North South Highway has become a Never Ending Toll to enrich its private operators.
No need to guess that there are people in the power structure who personally benefit