SHAH ALAM, 12 Oct: The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (FOMCA) asked the federal government to review the highway concession agreements to avoid the continuous increase of toll rates.
The Vice President, Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman, said that a review must be made against concessions that have already profited from the construction of highways to prevent the people from continuing to pay the rate of increase.
“We still hope that the concession agreements are reviewed to look into whether it is wise or not to increase, especially for highways that have regained investment returns.
“There are highways that have done this, hence, reviews should be made and the increase of toll rates should not happen,” he told Selangor Kini today.
Mohd Yusof said that the government had to compensate concessionaires if the toll rates are not increased as stipulated in the agreements.
He said that there are some highways that are not massively maintained like the North-South Expressway (PLUS) and more focused on returns for shareholders based on general observations.
Despite the increase in toll rates becoming a common issue for the people, it still has an impact on their daily expenses.
At least five highways will face an increase in toll rates starting October 15 with the North-East Expressway Consortium announcing an increase between 30 sen and RM1 at the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway (DUKE).
The toll rate for the Maju Expressway (MEX) will also increase by between 20 sen and RM3 according to the Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd concession, while Aneh Berhad has stated that the payment at the Gombak and Bentong Toll Plazas and also the KLK Expressway will increase between 30 sen and RM3.
Meanwhile, the rate for the Kajang-Silk Expressway is expected to increase between 40 sen and RM2.40 while the rate at the SMART tunnel will increase to RM3.
At the Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway (LATAR), the new rate charges is RM2.50 at the Ijok, Kuang Timur, Kuang Barat, Templer tolls and RM1.30 for Kudang Timur, Kudang Barat.
NS