PLUS turned daylight robber?
By Kim Quek
While the Works Minister is brandishing the potential
compensation figure of RM 38 billion to frighten off
protesters of the 10% toll increase to PLUS, I wonder
how many can recall the original tender submissions
for the construction of this North South Expressway in
mid-80?
The lowest submission of the 4 tenders then was only
RM 3.2 billion. Despite being the least qualified of
the four, UEM (owned and controlled by UMNO then) was
awarded the contract on a design - build - finance -
operate basis. By the time the project was completed,
the construction costs had inexplicably ballooned to
RM 6 billion, with the bulk of the financial outlay
covered by a government soft loan.
Since PLUS (subsidiary of UEM) started to collect
tolls in 1988, the following occurrences have taken
place:
1. Toll collection period has been extended from 30
years to 42 years (expiry extended from 2018 to 2030),
in exchange for toll rate increase interval changing
from every one year to every three years.
2. By 2002, toll rate (for saloon cars) had escalated
by two and a half times, from 5 sen/km to 12.36
sen/km.
3. On top of the toll rate increases, the government
has been and will continue to pay hefty compensation
every year to PLUS for deviating from the original
terms of contract in respect of toll rate increases.
4. PLUS collected RM 1.58 billion in tolls in 2003.
Considering the fact that the number of vehicles on
the road has been growing by two digit percentages
every year, and considering the inevitable heavy toll
rate increases every three years, PLUS is scheduled to
make tens of billions of profits while we as well as
our children will be squeezed dry in the decades
ahead.
And how much did the NS Expressway cost? Only a couple
of billion ringgit. And even that few billions were
mostly provided by direct government soft loan or
government guaranteed loan. In other words, the people
had financed the construction of the project, and PLUS
had hardly come up with any substantial capital.
Aren't we, the people, being made the suckers? Why
should we have given money to some one to put a ring
around our necks?
This must be one of the most one-sided contracts in
the world between the government and a private body
favouring the latter!
As a first step to rectify the wrongs done on the
people, the government must disclose the full details
of the original contract and its subsequent
amendments. This, the government had adamantly refused
to do in the past. But the time has come when this
obstinacy should no longer be tolerated, as it runs
contrary to Abdullah’s pledges of transparency and
trustworthiness.
The time is therefore ripe for the people to demand
that the government makes a clean breast of the
contracts, failing which, legal action must be taken.
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