KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan (PH) is retaining its freeze on toll hikes for 2020.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said this after attending an event at the Kuala Lumpur Customs Department headquarters, here, today.
“Though the government froze toll hikes this year at all highways, the people must remember that when the toll hike is frozen, then the government must pay the losses incurred.
“This is a cost that is burdensome to the government, but because we want to control living costs, want to help the rakyat, it was frozen, but it seems like this was not given due coverage,” Lim said.
When asked about the estimated cost to the government this time around, Lim said he would reveal the figure at a later date.
In Dec 2018, the government chose to maintain existing toll rates at all expressways in the country for 2019.
In a statement disclosing the Cabinet decision from Dec 12 at the time, Lim said the move would cover all vehicle classes on the country’s 21 highways eligible for increased toll rates in 2020, at a cost of RM994.43 million to taxpayers’ monies.
In 2018, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said there were no toll hikes in the ten years he held the portfolio of finance minister except in 2016, for highways that were not owned by Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan (PLUS).