THE government is considering a pilot run for its targeted petrol subsidy system ahead of its implementation in the second quarter of next year.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the idea came up when he and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng met on Thursday.

“We did not finalise anything but we are toying with the idea of running a pilot project to ensure we can handle technical glitches that may happen when we implement the system.

“We hope to start the pilot run before the first quarter. Perhaps we will go by zone, or according to the oil company,” he told reporters in Penang today.

Under Budget 2019, the government has proposed to give petrol subsidies to people using cars with engine capacities of 1,500cc and below, and motorcycles of 125cc and below.

Under the new system, the RON95 petrol subsidy of 30 sen per litre is also limited to 100 litres a month for cars, and 40 litres for motorcycles.

Saifuddin said the idea is to have the government subsidy benefit the B40 income group, as those who can afford more expensive vehicles can afford to pay more for petrol.

He said the government might study whether the subsidy could be extended to those in the M40 lower bracket group.

“We have to see how much we can save. We spent RM7 billion on petrol subsidies this year.

“If we see that it is reasonable to extend the subsidy to the lower M40 group

from the savings we make, we will look into it,” he said.

Saifuddin also said he would reveal the details on the total number of vehicles and subsidy recipients under the new system in a future press conference.

He said the procurement process to roll out the new subsidy system will start sometime soon.

“The government will call for an RFP (request for proposal) soon to invite service providers to send their proposals on how to run this new subsidy system.

“We have finalised the specifications for the RFP. The next step is to announce it.

“System-wise, we want one that will operate seamlessly. It must be effective and compatible with the major stakeholders – the oil companies and petrol stations,” said Saifuddin. – November 10, 2018.