Works Minister, Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi stated that abolishing tolls on highways is impractical and unrealistic for the federal government to implement.
The approach was raised following a question posed by Datuk Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (PN-Besut) on the status of the previous government's pledge to abolish tolls.
Nanta said the effort would cost billions of ringgit to fund road maintenance and concessions, thus affecting development allocations in underserved areas.
He also stressed that although there is no plan to completely abolish tolls, the government has postponed the increase in toll rates for 10 major highways this year to ease the burden on the people's cost of living.
Furthermore, the highways involved are operated by publicly listed companies such as Bina Puri Holdings Bhd (LATAR), Taliworks Corp Bhd (GRANDSAGA and NNKSB) and Ekovest Bhd (DUKE).
Other concessionaires include Senai-Desaru Expressway Bhd (SDE), PLUS Malaysia Bhd (LPT2), SKVE Holdings Sdn Bhd (SKVE), Second Bridge Sdn Bhd (JSAHMS) owned by the Ministry of Finance, Maju Expressway Sdn Bhd (MEX) and Lingkaran Luar Butterworth (Penang) Sdn Bhd (LLB).
