Toll increases from March 1 for five highways (Updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: Road users will have to pay higher tolls for five major highways beginning March 1.

The highways affected are the North-South Expressway (PLUS), Sprint/Kerinchi/Damansara Link highways, Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Expressway (AKLEH), Sungai Besi Highway and the New Pantai Expressway (NPE).

For the PLUS highway, it will be an increase of 5%.

This means toll charges from Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah to Kempas in Johor would increase from RM108 to RM113.40.

A trip from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh would increase from RM26.50 to RM27.90.

For the Sprint/Kerinchi/Damansara Link highways, it will be an increase of between 30sen and 50sen.

The Sungai Besi Highway will see an increase of 10sen, while the AKLEH and NPE will be increased by 50sen and 40sen respectively.

In announcing this, Works Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohammed said the increase was minimal and hoped the public understood that the increase was stipulated in the concession agreements that the government had signed.

“The increase was actually due in January last year but we had postponed it until now. This means the government has been paying compensation for 14 months.”

Mohd Zin said the compensation amounted to RM277mil with RM177mil going to PLUS, RM38mil to Sprint and RM30mil to AKLEH, adding that the impending increase was half of what was scheduled.

“There is a shortfall of 5%,” he said during a press conference at the Works Ministry on Wednesday.

The announcement for the increase however comes almost immediately after two toll booths were abolished recently.

The Salak Jaya toll (south-bound) was abolished on Tuesday while the toll at PJS2 (Kuala Lumpur-bound) of the New Pantai Expressway was abolished on Feb 13.

Mohd Zin said the abolishments were unrelated to the toll increase and that it should not be politicised, stressing that it was a contractual obligation on the government’s part.

He said more importantly was that alternative routes existed for all highways in the country, adding that this was the case for all highways but added that more could be done to improve the alternative routes.

When pointed out that the roads were jammed especially in the city regardless of whether it was a highway or an alternative route, Mohd Zin said it was a big challenge having to manage the amount of traffic Kuala Lumpur has.

“Kuala Lumpur has 3.5 million vehicles for a population of about five million people.

Tokyo only has 1.3 million vehicles for a populationf 20 million,” Mohd Zin said, concluding that more effort was needed to improve public transport.

source from e-mail circular

Aiseymannn.... macam mana nak balik johor ni beb...
dahla keje jauh ni.Naik basikal la jawapnya aku.... Hehe

WAHHHHH Baguih betoi Kera-jaan kita ni... awat tak naik 5% setiap bulan... barulah rock !

i havent check kerinchi link yet... see betul2 naik kar atau main2 nih...
but i think this bogus, kalau betul paper dah keluar headlines dah

naik motor jack senang..toll free, parking free..

Cannot bro... motor just only use for pegi and balik keje jer..
Naik atas highway memang patah pinggangla... Kalo moto bm touring tu xpe gak cepat sampai.. Hehehe

good infor bro. thanks for the heads up.

toll mmg dah naik bro.....

July petrol plak naik.....aku pon tatau la ape lg set2 menteri kite nak bli pakai cash....minyak pasaran turun gile babi...dia dah siap awal2 nak declare harga naik....

cant wait for this coming by-elections.....