Johor politicians criticise highway authority for toll hike

Johor politicians from both sides of the political divide have lashed out at the national highway authority over the newly-announced 400 per cent toll hike at the Causeway, calling it unfair and a burden, especially to those working in Singapore.

Kluang Member of Parliament (MP) Liew Chin Tong said the hike was a heavy blow to Malaysians who commute daily to Singapore for work. “Their options are to pay more, car pool or use motorbikes instead of cars, and all these options come with greater difficulties,” said the lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Action Party.

“All these hardships are imposed because the cronies have to be paid for the highway and other projects they built. It is totally unacceptable,” he added, questioning if the hike was linked to the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) elevated highway connecting the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex (CIQ) in Johor Baru to the North-South Expressway.

United Malays National Organisation lawmaker Nur Jazlan Mohamed has also criticised the toll hike, saying it should be postponed pending further analysis. “I don’t understand the rationale for the toll hike, which is clearly going to burden the people in Johor who work in Singapore,” he said in a statement.

The Public Accounts Committee chairman added that the rationale that the toll hike was needed to bear the cost of the EDL did not make sense.

“EDL is a privatisation project that is supposed to benefit the public and not incur higher tolls,” he said.

Johor assembly opposition leader Dr Boo Cheng Hau called on Putrajaya to explain to the public the terms of the concessions given to PLUS to collect toll fees at the CIQ and to Malaysian Resources Corporation to build and collect toll fees for the use of the EDL.

Meanwhile, Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching pointed out that the toll hike would result in more people using motorcycles and thereby increasing the number of road accidents. She called on the authorities to improve public transport to Singapore, adding that the train service to the island-state needed to be upgraded. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER