THE cabinet will decide on ways to reduce toll charges for 29 highways nationwide at a meeting next week, reports The Straits Times.

Citing sources, the Singapore daily said the move comes following bickering among Pakatan Harapan parties on the best way to cut toll rates and reduce cost of living as promised in their GE14 manifesto.

In June, the Finance Ministry issued an official offer to take over four highways in the Klang Valley, namely Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat (Sprint), Lebuhraya Shah Alam (Kesas) and the SMART Tunnel for RM6.2 billion.

That price tag is a source of discord between the Finance and Works Ministries, said the Straits Times.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s proposal has upset the Works Ministry as the latter is working on a separate proposal and has objected to budget cuts to other projects to finance the RM6.2 billion takeover of the four highways owned by Gamuda Bhd. 

The meeting next Wednesday will look at the proposed solutions to reduce toll rates, especially on the type of financing instruments used and the ultimate cost to public coffers, said the Straits Times.

“Some ministers questioned why he (Lim) was reluctant to spend on other programmes but keen to pay RM6.2 billion to Gamuda. This was coincidentally the same amount proposed for the Felda rescue package which took a long time to finalise,” the paper cited an anonymous official as saying.

In March, it was reported that the government would bail out scandal-plagued Felda with a RM3 billion package to ease its cash flow and help the more than 112,000 Malay families whose livelihood depended on the land development scheme.

Lim justified the price tag as saving RM5.3 billion in compensation the government would have had to pay Gamuda to freeze scheduled toll hikes in the concession agreement.

The other options to reduce toll charges include leasing the highways from their operators for a fixed sum until the agreements expire.

However, while the lease model will save more than RM100 billion in the next 35 years, the concessionaires have a final say on whether they would accept the terms.

A third option is for sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional to issue perpetual bonds to buy out the highways. – August 22, 2019.