Works Minister Should Come Clean

Works Minister, Samy Vellu defends the steep rise in toll rates on grounds that Malaysia has the' cheapest tolls in the world'.What the Minister fail to add is that other countries dont pay road tax and the import duties and excise duties dont reach100% to 200% depending on the models.
An average popular car like Toyota Vois costU.S$10,000 in America.In Malaysia it cost almost$90,000.Almost twice the value as in America.Naturally motorist in America dont mind paying a higher toll rate since cars are cheaper.But in Malaysia we are hit with a triple whammy.we pay road tax, road toll and pay hefty import and excise duties on cars.
When the American govt build their highways the contract is openly tendered and the whole process is transparent. All contracts, the terms and conditons of the highway agreement are opened for public scrutiny.When a contract of $1 billion is given out for the contract we can safely assume that it is a justifiable cost.On completion of the highway, the operator assume the risk of a normal business venture.There is no such thing as a govt guarantee that the highway toll collected will be profitable.Any loss would have to be borne by the operator and there is no such thing as compensation if the expected profit do not materialise.
Can we say the same practice for our highway construction?Here in Malaysia, Highway contracts are given out without tender.Cost of a $1billion highway project is given away for $3 billion to companies dubiously connected to the ruling politica lparty.Terms and agreement of the Highway contract are so secretive that they come under the purview of the OSA(official Secret Act).Naturally when inflated values are given to the cost of Highways the tendency is that toll rates are calculated based on inflated rates.What should have been a $1 collection becomes $2 because of the inflated cost of the Highway.The most ridiculous part of the whole Highway agreement is that the govt provides the operator with an iron clad guarantee to allow them to increase toll every few years.If toll increase is not given the govt give an undertaking to compensate the operator to the extent of the amount loss in revenue.According to the workMinister an amount of $2.5 billion was given as compensation to the concessionaire.This alone shouldcreate further suspicions whether the whole structureof the Highway agreement was done in a fair and equitable manner.
The Works Minister should desist from comparing our toll rate with other countries especially when allother factors are not similar and equal.First and foremost let us have a look at the Highway concessionaire agreement to see if everything is above board.Then let the public judge whether the toll increase is justifiable.