THE government has no plans to abolish tolls at highways as it doesn’t want to undertake paying huge compensations to the highway toll concessionaires, Works Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said.

He said the government would be faced with the additional financial burden of operating and maintaining highways if tolls are done away with.

“In line with the policy to develop and grow the nation’s economy, the tolls at highways need to be retained so that services can be given to road users as well as to save the government’s expenditures,” he said in a parliamentary reply today.

Nanta was replying to a question from Lim Lip Eng (Kepong-PH) if the government has plans to abolish tolls.

Lim also asked if there were any plans to improve highway users’ experience so they enjoy a smooth and hassle-free journey.

The minister said the government hopes to implement Multi Lane Fast Flow (MLFF) toll collection by 2025.

He said the MLFF system will allow highway users to pay tolls using multiple platforms.

The current highway toll collection system has caused much distress to road users with traffic building up prior to payment, or with too few toll booths.

At times, technical faults have also caused many delays.

Pakatan Harapan had previously said it would abolish all highway tolls when it comes to power but after the general election in 2018, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that abolishing tolls would be a financially taxing move for the government. – March 10, 2023.