Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General And MP For Bagan Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 8.2.2014.
Challenge Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin To Guarantee That There Will Be No Highway Toll Hikes Next Year And The Following Years Until The Next General Elections To Prove That BN’s Decision To Defer The Proposed Toll Hikes This Year Is Not Motivated By The Kajang State By-election On March 23.
DAP challenges Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to guarantee that there will be no highway toll hikes next year and the following years until the next general elections to prove that BN’s decision to defer the proposed toll hikes this year is not motivated by the Kajang state by-election on March 23. Muhyidin was responding to my criticism that this is an opportunistic political tactic clearly intended to try to win the hearts and votes for BN in Kajang, which is serviced by many highways.
Muhyiddin’s announcement to defer toll hikes only for this year will cause the government to pay compensation of RM400 million to toll concessionaires. Toll rates would remain unchanged for the following 14 expressways, including those servicing Kajang:
1. Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (Akleh)
2. Western KL Traffic Dispersal System (Sprint) Expressway
3. New Pantai Expressway (NPE)
4. Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart)
5. Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway (Silk)
6. Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP)
7. Kajang-Seremban Expressway (Lekas)
8. Senai-Desaru Expressway (SDE)
9. Shah Alam-Kuang (Guthrie Corridor) Expressway
10. South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE)
11. Sungai Besi Expressway (Besraya)
12. Butterworth Outer Ring Road (Borr)
13. Maju Expressway (MEX)
14. Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway (Duke)
Muhyidin’s claim that even if there is no Kajang by-election, BN would have made the same decision to defer toll hikes sounds hollow and unconvincing when he refused to state that there would be no toll hikes for next year and the year after next. The public has not benefited much from the deferral of toll hikes because they still have to pay the toll concessionaires not directly but indirectly from BN’s use of pubic monies.
Clearly BN values the interests of the few cronies more than 28 million ordinary Malaysians. Malaysians have no faith in BN’s promises when BN have failed to deliver on its 2013 general election manifesto to reduce intra-city toll rates but instead proposed that several tolls are due for a hike this year. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar has even said that those who disagreed with the toll hikes can use “alternative”, non-tolled roads instead when there are no such alternative roads for some routes.
Can Muhyiddin settle this issue of highway toll hikes once and for all by guaranteeing that there will be no increase until the next general election? His failure to do so will make the highway toll hikes and BN’s failure to fulfill their promises made in 2013 general election manifesto, into a prominent issue in the forthcoming Kajang by-election.
LIM GUAN ENG
—-Mandarin Version —
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英於2014年2月8日在吉隆坡发表文告：
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挑战丹斯里慕尤丁保证明年和接下来的几年，直至下届大选，大道收费都不会起价，以证明国阵今年推迟大道建议收费调涨，并非因为3月23日的加影补选。
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民主行动党挑战副首相丹斯里慕尤丁保证明年和接下来的几年，直至下届大选，大道收费都不会起价，以证明国阵今年推迟大道建议收费调涨，并非因为3月23日加影补选。慕尤丁在回应我的批评时，采取投机取巧的政治策略，试图让国阵在拥有多条大道的加影补选中赢得更多民心。
慕尤丁宣布，推迟调涨大道收费单单今年就已导致政府必须支付4亿令吉赔偿予大道特许经营费的公司。14条收费保持不变，包括加影区的大道有：
1. 安邦吉隆坡大道 （AKLEH）
2. 吉隆坡西部疏散大道（SPRINT）
3. 新班底谷大道 （NPE）
4. 精明防洪隧道 （SMART）
5. 加影外环公路 （SILK）
6. 白蒲大道 （LDP）
7. 加芙大道（LEKAS）
8. 士乃 － 迪沙鲁高速大道 （SDE）
9. 牙直利走廊大道 （GCE）
10. 巴生河流域南部大道 （SKVE）
11. 新街场大道 （BESRAYA）
12. 北海居林大道（BORR)
13. 隆布大道 （MEX）
14. 大使路 － 淡江大道 （DUKE）
慕尤丁声称，即使没有加影补选，国阵同样会作出推迟大道收费调涨的决定。这项即说法空洞且没有说服力，他拒绝说明，明年和未来几年大道也同样没有调涨收费。在推迟调涨大道收费上，民众并没有受益许多，因为他们仍然必须支付特许经营费， 差别只在于非直接性而是间接性使用公帑。
显然，国阵只惠及几个亲信的利益超过2800万马来西亚人的利益。马来西亚人对国阵的承诺失去信心 ，国阵没有兑现2013年全国大选降低过路费的宣言 ，而在今年建议调涨一些大道的收费。首相署部长拿督斯里阿都华希甚至说，那些不同意大道收费调涨者，可以选择其他替代道路，除非同一路线没有替代道路。
直至下届大选 ，慕尤丁是否可以一劳永逸解决这项大道收费调涨的课题? 若他无法这样做，将使得大道收费调涨和国阵未能履行2013年大选宣言，将成为即将来临加影补选中一项显着的课题。
林冠英