SIBU: Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem will announce before the middle of the year whether the Lanang Bridge toll will be lowered or scrapped altogether.
The Chief Minister said yesterday that his administration was currently negotiating with the firm that built the bridge on this matter.
Urging the public to give credit to the right parties, he said: “The credit does not go to Democratic Action Party (DAP). The company will talk to me and Barisan Nasional (BN). But if you want the toll to remain, talk to DAP.
“I do not want like what the Malay proverb says ‘Lembu punya susu sapi dapat nama’ (loosely translated as milk belongs to the cow but the bull gets the name) to happen,” he said at the SUPP Sibu Chinese New Year gathering here.
Adenan said the people could ‘knock his head’ if nothing new about the toll issue happened.
Earlier, SUPP Bukit Assek branch chairman Chieng Buong Toon forwarded several requests to the chief minister, including on the abolition of the toll, improvement of drainage system, and the renaming of Hospital Road to Lau King Howe Road.
On the toll, Chieng said the charges were too high even though the commissioning of the bridge in 2006 had benefitted many people.
“Take the farmers, for example. They might earn less than RM50 per day and to take RM6 from their earning as toll is heavy. For some residents, because of their work, they might have to go through the bridge two to three times a day. This is taxing to them.”
The toll, Chieng added, had a negative impact on the economic growth on both river banks.
“With such a hard life, we do not think the people can stand with us in the BN government. Obviously, the toll has become a political issue, especially during the 2006 and 2011 elections.
“The unhappiness and dissatisfaction of the people were vented on the BN-SUPP, which was defeated in almost all its state and parliamentary seats in the Rajang Basin.”
The tolls at Lanang Bridge are 50 sen for motorcycles; RM3 for cars, including taxicabs and multipurpose vehicles; RM5 for vans, minibuses, pickup trucks, SUVs and light trucks less than five tonnes; RM8 for buses; RM15 for lorries; and RM25 for trailers.
Present at the gathering were Adenan’s wife Datin Patinggi Datuk Jamilah Anu, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang, SUPP president Prof. Senator Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, organising chairman Robert Lau Hui Yew and Temenggong Vincent Lau.