6 infographics StarBizweek, Saturday 27 July 2019 The perception on toll highways

By B.k. SiDHU about 26.8 million registered motor vehicles perception will not change. in compensation to the concessionaires. [email protected] in the country. “In order to appreciate and more the four highways are lebuhraya MHa says that the findings of the survey importantly meet these expectations, the damansara-Puchong (ldP), Sistem aBOut 61% of respondents in a recent “inferred that toll spending does not concession companies, authorities and the Penyuraian trafik Kl Barat (Sprint), survey conducted by the Malaysian Highway significantly impact the overall household relevant agencies must be bold enough to Expressway (Kesas) and Smart . authority (MHa) felt that toll rates were high. expenditure of highway users.’’ identify all weaknesses and make room for It was reported that the proposed takeover the rest, 23.8%, felt tolls were fairly priced, It says toll payment accounts for 1.8% to improvements,’’ MHa says. the findings were of the four urban toll highways goes to show while 15.2% did not have an opinion on toll 5.8% of household expenditure. shared by MHa during the recent 2019 the government’s commitment to not only rates. the main reason why the respondents felt Highway Concession Conference in George make sure there will be no more toll hikes, but a total of 5,808 respondents participated toll highways were highly priced was that they town. also for consumers to enjoy lower toll rates in the survey, comprising both toll and were not getting value for money because of abolishing tolls was part of the Pakatan during off-peak hours, and this will cease non-toll users. the survey covered the entire the constant congestion on the highways that Harapan government’s manifesto in the 14th upon the expiry of the current concession country, lasting for eight months via does not help reduce traveling time. general election. It wants to review all toll face-to-face and online distribution. the the whole idea of using highways is to agreements and renegotiate to derive the periods for the four highways. respondents were mainly from the central reach our destination faster, but that is often best value for money for consumers and as for the proposed takeover of PluS region and use toll roads to travel to and from not the case because of the constant gradually work towards abolishing tolls. Bhd’s North-South Expressway office and also school. congestion. recently, the government made a rM6.2bil (NSE), it has yet to be tabled in the Cabinet. the whole idea of the survey was to gauge If congestion is identified as a problem, bid to take over four concessions of toll Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd has submitted a public perception on toll highways. there are then it needs to be addressed or public highways. this could save taxpayers rM5.3bil proposal to take over the NSE.

2011 -2017 Statistics on Public Complaints ROADS : COMPARISON WITH SEA COUNTRIES

road quality; determined by extensiveness condition of road network tOll traFFIC PuBlIC rOad PayMENt JaM FaCIlItIES daMaGES Quality of road Score 74.22 80 MALAYSIA THAILAND INDONESIA 74.22 PHILIPPINES 70.21 63.06 Overall 60 score: 55.92 50.5

50.5 48.1 3,289 10,835 2,820 2,324 40 41.34 34.57 34.99

Source : MHa 32.39 26.79 22.53

20 2 1 3

To date there are 29 operational highways, NK RA 6 under construction and 5 in the planning stage 0 RANK RANK

Start year of concession agreements Type of highway Quality of roads road connectivity index Overall score 12 Source: World Economic Forum, 20172018 urban 16 Why the Public’s Willingness to Pay is Low Intra- the public perceives toll rates as highly priced because they are not getting their urban intended value-for-money (VFM) (i.e. to avoid congestion and reduce travel time)

> If the main purpose of using toll highways is to save time, it becomes abundantly 3 clear that congestion is one of the main issues that needs to be solved. Inter- > the survey findings noted that users perceive toll rates as highly priced on the urban basis that they are not receiving their value for-money.

4 Connectivity 3.49 & Highway services/ tunnel Facilities 3.46 road maintenance Toll system Toll length 3.29 level 28 11 Safety 3.23 Open Close Congestion 2.51 system system 1981.1km total length of Very Very toll Highways unsatisfactory satisfactory Extracted from KPMG study (2019) Extracted from KPMG study (2019)