Former PM says he knows many Malaysians are unhappy about paying toll but that it is necessary to enable concessionaires to maintain the highways.
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The Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman said Malaysians should think twice before complaining about high toll rates as they were not paying as much as other countries charge for tolls.
He said the toll rates in Malaysia were the lowest in the world, citing an example of a bridge he had travelled on in Japan which imposed an exorbitant toll on users.
“To cross the bridge costs RM270 for a one-way journey and more than RM500 for both ways.
“This bridge is almost similar to the Penang bridge, but the Penang bridge only costs RM7 for a return journey.
“Since it (Penang bridge) was built until today, the rates have never been increased,” he said during his Policy Talks session which was aired live today.
Last week, Najib accused the opposition of hypocrisy over his administration’s efforts to reduce or eliminate existing tolls on public roads.
He said the hypocrisy was shown in their criticism and efforts to belittle his initiative while they themselves adulated and supported a former leader whom he described as the “father of all tolls”.
Najib had abolished toll collection at four locations in Selangor, Johor and Kedah, effective Jan 1.
Mahathir said he knew many Malaysians were unhappy about paying toll but that it was not possible for highway concessionaires not to impose toll.
“Toll is imposed to help concessionaires maintain these highways.
“We tried to assist to reduce the cost so that the concessionaires would not be burdened with high debts, such as the North-South Expressway developer.
“When cost is low, the concessionaires don’t have to pay back so much and don’t have to impose expensive rates.
“If the toll rates are high, no one will use the highways, then the concessionaires will suffer losses and face problems when repaying their debts,” he said.
Mahathir compared the toll highways with the Najib administration’s projects such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which he said were not planned properly.
“When you want to have public transportation systems like this, you need to think about the convenience of accessing the transport in order to guarantee commuters’ smooth journey.
“All these have recurring costs, costs that you may not be able to get back.
“Before such a system is built, all these should have been thought out without burdening the government and the people.”
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Sumber Dr M defends highway toll rates, says lowest in the world