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Photo taken from theborneopost.com[/caption]
By Selangor Journal Staff
KUALA LUMPUR - The Government is looking at alternatives to abolishing highway toll collection, now that the move to abolish tolls has been cancelled said Works Minister Baru Bian.
He added that until the country is in a better financial health, decision on the matter has been postponed.
"There is no abolishment for now, but we are looking at alternatives. We have been talking to concessionaires and there are suggestions like rebates, fixing the toll price at the current rates for a few years or even reducing the rates," he said during a session at the "Malaysia: A New Dawn" conference today.
He was responding to Muslimin Yahaya (PH-Sungai Besar), who wanted to know the measures taken by the government to ensure the abolishment of the toll as promised by Pakatan Harapan (PH) in its election manifesto.
He said these alternatives included reducing the toll rate, imposing a flat toll rate and providing discounts during off-peak periods.
“Another (alternative) is not to increase the toll rate for a certain period. These are being discussed,” he said.
He noted that any decision on the alternative measures would have implications on the Government as the agreements have already been signed and therefore the terms of the agreements cannot simply be changed unless it is mutually agreed by the signatories involved.
"So, we will be making the decision on that. In fact, my Ministry and the Ministry of Finance are looking into this and we are discussing the best options that we should propose to the Cabinet," he said.
