KUALA LUMPUR: The challenges in the take over of tolled highways nationwide are more pronounced as circumstances differ from total abolition of toll charges, an analyst said.
MIDF Amanah Investment Bank analyst Danial Razak said such a large scale acquisition would require the government to find alternatives to finance operations if it were to seek full control.
“Total abolition of toll charges means that the government has to bear the cost of operations and maintenance moving forward, (hence) adding another load to operational expenditure to be incurred perpetually.
“Unless there is sustainable means of financing to bear the operational costs, we believe total abolishment is hardly a reasonable move,” he told Bernama.
He said complete abolition of tolled charges would mean the federal government would have to shoulder extra burden on its already tight fiscal budget.
“On a more practical tone, we could expect the government to maintain tolls at cheaper rates, introduce off-peak hour discounts or freeze toll rate hike as mentioned by Works Minister Baru Bian in October last year,” he said.
Danial described the arrangement as rational because the introduction of congestion charge would likely sustain future operations of these highways.
Meanwhile, Phillip Capital Management senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the government should set up a committee to communicate with investors on its move to acquire infrastructure projects such as tolled concessions.
He said while the move to acquire tolled concessions was a good step in reducing the cost of living, as well as fulfilling the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto to abolish tolls, it could give a wrong impression to foreign investors that the government is going to be involved more actively in infrastructure projects.
Nazri Khan said the committee could reach out to investors, explaining the government’s intention of reducing the people’s burden would not at the expense of the private sector.
Currently, there are 29 tolled expressways in the country and they would cost the government between RM130 billion to RM145 billion, including RM52 billion in debts, if it were to acquire all of them, besides the annual maintenance cost estimated at between RM1.5 billion and RM2.5 billion.
Last Saturday, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that the government has commenced talks with Gamuda Bhd to negotiate the acquisition of highway concession on four highways where the company has a majority stake.
The highways are the Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat (Sprint), Lebuhraya Shah Alam (Kesas) and SMART Tunnel.
This is the PH government’s “first step” in fulfilling its election promise to abolish toll collection in stages to alleviate the high cost of living of commuters, the Prime Minister said. - BERNAMA