Move over America, Malaysia is now the land of opportunity. Want a new revenue stream for your company? Well, build a toll booth and charge a ringgit or two.
If it is built on a road, such as the one to the popular hilltop resort Genting Highlands, where 20 million tourists are said to visit annually, the company's coffers will be filled to the brim in no time.
That is what was alleged to have happened in Goh Tong Jaya, where a gantry structure was taking shape. But before it could become what it was intended to be, the Bentong Municipal Council (MPB) issued a stop-work order on Wednesday, claiming that the developer's submission was neither in compliance with the conditions imposed nor had the approvals of the authorities.
In the instant of the Internet moment, the toll booth plan became international news. Mind you, there was no official word from Lingkaran Cekap Sdn Bhd, the company in charge of maintaining the roadwork in Genting, or its holding company. But there were quiet whispers by the company or its consultants to a newspaper or two. Why the hush-hush? Your guess is as good as ours.
Loads of questions have been raised since it became breaking news of sorts.
One is: why did the developer start building the toll gantry before getting the approvals? One answer is that the road is private property, as canvassed by the developer in the local media.
But can the long stretch of road leading to the Genting Highlands holiday resort belong to a private entity? If it is so, how did it happen? Even if the road is private property as claimed, toll collection needs state consultation, a state government official told this newspaper.
This is how he put it: "If there is such a plan, it should be brought to the attention of the Pahang government, including the state government's investment and privatisation department before it is discussed at the executive council meeting." Obviously, it wasn't.
Granted, some companies are errant in their ways, but errant, too, are the regulators. Why did the MPB wait until the gantry was up before issuing a stop-work order?
After all, it already had the developer's application for building approval with them. Lack of compliance should have put MPB on alert. Vigilance could have stopped the construction if it had begun then. But that is the state of enforcement in the country: more woes than reliefs.
Consider the infamous case of chemical dumping in Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang, Johor, in March 2019, an unrelated case though it may be. But it has everything to do with the fallout of late enforcement.
The culprit, it turned out, was an illegal tyre recycling factory. It would have continued to operate if not for the national attention the case garnered.
According to the news portal of the New Straits Times, the Johor government spent RM6.4 million to clean up 1.5km of the river. Then energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin estimated the total cost to be more than RM10 million. Not included in this cost were the health costs for the schoolchildren and the irreparable damage done to Sungai Kim Kim. Lessons, they surely are. But learned? Make that another question.