MALAYSIAN commuters are getting the best value for money in Southeast Asia for transportation, said an independent research service from the United Kingdom-based financial daily.
FT Confidential Research from Financial Times, in its recent report, stated that Malaysia ranked high on all measures of quality for its transportation infrastructure, based on the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) report on global economic competitiveness.
“According to our latest proprietary data, Malaysians are paying about the same for transport as citizens of other Asean countries where their infrastructure is significantly poorer. They spend less as a proportion of their income than Asean rivals when it comes to transport.”
The report said Malaysia achieved a high WEF score as the country had invested in infrastructure programmes earlier than other Asean countries.
The report showed that Malaysians’ spending on transport rose to 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, from 0.6 per cent in 2015.
For this year, spending was expected to at least match that level, with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak making infrastructure a key priority, it said, citing the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Sungai Buloh-Kajang Line as an example.
However, the report cautioned that Malaysia had the highest debt-to-GDP level of the so-called Asean-5 (which includes Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines) last year at 53 per cent, compared with 42 per cent for the Philippines.
Commenting on the report, Gerakan vice-president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau said Malaysia indeed offered a top-notch transportation infrastructure.
“Construction work has caused inconvenience in the short-term. But, the creation of efficient transportation system will help ease traffic congestion in the long-term.”
Lau said in focusing on facilitating movement of the people, the government must prioritise public safety.
Economist Professor Dr Barjoyai Bardai said transport costs formed a substantial portion of household expenditure, up to 15 per cent in some cases.
“This is a good sign of economic development to prepare the society and environment for the upper middle-class society.
“We need to see rapid reaction from consumers to shift to public transport,” he said.
In terms of economic development, he said, since the late 1970s, the transport sector had spurred rapid economic development by reducing movement costs and reaching consumers in remote areas.
On the MRT, he said, it would serve as a catalyst for properties development and that the value was an important component of wealth in the economy.
“It will improve the mobility of workers, reduce operational costs for manufacturing and other businesses.”
Pan Malaysia Bus Operators Association president Datuk Mohamad Ashfar Ali said while consumers enjoyed cheap fares for express and stage buses, they were deprived of value-added services, such as video on demand, wifi and off-peak pricing.
“This is because the bus industry is not allowed to fix fares. So, it can’t provide such services. The fares were last revised nine years ago,” he said.