Highway to hell

Much is being said about the latest round of increase in toll prices. Detractors will of course be quick to point out the burden it places on the rakyat, what more fresh on the heels of the goods and services tax (GST), the fuel price increase and subsequent increase in cost of living because of the two.

Supporters of the hike generally have three things to rebut this – that it is necessary, that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad started the trend of privatisation and ultimately should be blamed, or the third – that Pakatan now controls Selangor and should do more than merely demonstrate.

To be fair to both camps, there is a fair amount of truth in all of their statements.

A toll hike once in a while is fair. However, the increase in prices should be gradual and be in the spirit of offsetting increasing costs, rather than to enhance profit.

A good public and private road system, much like a good public transport system or good infrastructure is vital for a town or even country’s success.

However, the high costs and expertise required to build such an infrastructure, if solely placed on the hands of the government alone, may see the delay of the building of such roads, or a missed opportunity cost in the form of more pressing infrastructure projects like schools or hospitals.

Hence, privatisation of roads was introduced, as a means to accelerate this process. In theory, this would also enable the experience gained by the builders of such roads to be marketable as another income source for the country.

However, when the theory was transferred into practice, something didn’t quite go right.

While some highways like the PLUS highway made connecting small towns and big towns easier and cut down much of the travel time between north and south, and even mid-sized highways like Kesas did the same for travel between cities, some intra-city highways seem a little excessive.

Now it is difficult to even get from two points within KL without entering some highway toll at some point in time.

Are these many tolls really necessary? Can those roads not be built as ordinary roads instead of tolled roads?

After all within the city limits, many of the tolled roads face rush hour traffic jams much like ordinary roads. Ironically many of those jams are caused by the toll collection booths.

How are toll concessions decided? And why are they such profitable business ventures- running into the billions of ringgit, when a good transport system is as beneficial to the government as it is to the ordinary citizen?

We use roads to get from point A to B to work, conduct business, play or study. All activities contribute to national productivity and profit, translating into tax dollars for the government.

We utilise tolled roads in motor vehicles, of which we are subjected to excise or import duties, GST and road tax to purchase and use.

Why so much tax on driving? Should something this vital to the nation be considered a profit-making business, sometimes accused of being a form of political reward.

If we refuse to take tolled roads, do we have viable alternatives? A strong public transport system perhaps? I believe not.

The rakyat are not unreasonable to demand free roads everywhere, but certainly, the people could use more empathy from the government.

Justifications to the toll hike like using it for BR1M or building hospitals does not really make sense either – a portion of toll collection always goes through the concession company.

Why would the government therefore, use a private collection source for what should be a not-for-profit transaction.

While it is true that many of the privatisation plans of highways happened before this administration, to say the current government is powerless to alter it, would be untrue.

At the same time, as a state government, Selangor can and should also play its role as stakeholder, shareholder and local authority to try and reduce the price of the toll collection from those angles as opposed to demonstrating all the time.

There should perhaps be a heavier emphasis of social responsibility when it comes to things like toll collection, instead of viewing it from a purely business sense.

Both sides should strive to drive down costs of tolled roads as it will affect many people.

If every little extension or shortcut are no longer seen as mere roads but profitable businesses, more will pop up to the detriment of the rakyat, and we will truly be on the highway to hell. – October 20, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.