Thursday, May 08, 2008
Highway toll to be reviewed
The Works Ministry has announced that it will review highway concessions, which may result in lower toll rates (go here). After following the saga of the power purchase agreement ('PPA') renegotiation between Tenaga & the independent power producers ('IPPs') (go here), I can say that the latest toll review idea will be another exercise in frustration. Not only will it be a waste of time, it would likely be a costly affair, as consultants & experts will have to be hired for the review. In the end, nothing will come out of this review, except for increased volatility for the shares of highway concession operators (such as PLUS & Litrak). So, why does the government want to go down this road? I think your answer is as good as mine.
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3 comments:
i wonder how the government going to renogiate, imagine this if i have a watertight agreement whereby the government will pay me a total of RM10 billion over 20 years, and the government now ask me whether they can renegotiate the amount and whether i would accept 8 billion instead?
my answer would obviously be asking the government to go fly kite !
obviously the Toll Operators will ask for a longer concession period in exchange for downward review of toll so as not to affect their financial interest, and this will prolong the people burden...
So why bother renegotiate ?
Hi Boon Chen,
I agree with your take on this review. The only way the toll rates can be lowered is for the Government to compensate the toll operators in lieu of the agreed toll rates. The government has done it before, but this practice is similar to subsidizing highway users. I am not in favor of the toll operators over the Government or the users. This is a legacy problem that we have to live unless we choose not to abide with these legally-biding toll concession agreements or nationalize all the tolled highways. Both options are costly and unthinkable.
不懂当初政府是如何和大道公司洽商过路费？隔一两年就要调整（也就是起价），不起的话政府就要贴钱。这是什么道理？酱吃亏的合约，政府怎么会签得下手？
这次的review如果不能令国民心服口服的话，国阵支持率岌岌可危。
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