Just when we thought that we won’t be hit by another hike in toll rates, Putrajaya revealed that motorists are expected to pay a slightly higher toll rate on the PLUS Highway from next year (2016) onwards.
According to a report by The Malay Mail Online, the federal government said that the North-South Highway concessionaire (PLUS) is “entitled” to up its toll rates by 5% every 3 years. This will go on for the next 22 years, as the federal government has signed the agreement that will end in 2038.
In a press statement, Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said that based on a concession agreement they’ve signed with PLUS in November 2011, there will be no hike in toll rates until 2015. The toll rate for the Penang bridge, however, will stay the same until 31st December 2038.
She said:
The latest agreement also set the toll rate increase of only 5% every 3 years from 2016 until the end of the concession on 31st December 2038.
This clarification is in response to Setiawangsa MP Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Zahari’s supplementary question in Parliament. Zahari asked “if there would be further toll hikes until the end of the concession agreement and at what rate”.
The goverment announced back in November 2014 that they would raise the toll rates for 20 highways nationwide this year. They later postponed the hike and allocated RM558.69 million to compensate the highway concessionaires.
In October this year, toll rates for highways operated by 11 concessionaires were then raised by between 20 sen and RM3. Works Minister Datuk Fadillah Yusof said that highways operated by 8 concessionaires are “entitled to increase toll rates next year” as well.
What do you think of the increase in toll rates? Will you be badly affected by it? Feel free to discuss this in the comments box below.
Source: The Malay Mail Online.
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