KUALA LUMPUR: The government has not issued any directives to any highway concessionaire on toll rates, said Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof.
He said based on the concession agreements, some of the highways were to increase toll rates in 2014.
“However, the government has yet to issue any directives on this to the companies involved,” he said in a statement to Bernama here last night.
Instead, he said the government was still deliberating on the best steps to take to mitigate the impact on the people in case toll rates were increased by considering the views of various quarters.
He said this included the setting up of a special laboratory which would be handled by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) to study the implications of toll rate hikes in 2014.
Fadillah explained that since 2008, the government had implemented several steps to reduce the burden of users of tolled highways, among them deferring toll rate increases from 2008 till 2013, for 15 highways.
He said other steps were early closing of toll plazas and abolition of toll collection at seven toll plazas.
The government also implemented a reduction in toll rate involving three highways besides restructuring toll rates on highways operated by PLUS and Kumpulan MTD.
Fadillah said in considering steps to reduce the burden of the people, the government also had the respect the terms of the concession agreements.
This was to ensure Malaysia continued to gain the confidence of investors and efforts to put Malaysia’s economy on a firmer and competive track were not affected, he added. — Bernama