What's holding up the abolition of tolls?

LETTER | Much has been said about the failure of the Pakatan Harapan's failure to honour one of its GE14 promises as stated in its election manifesto, such as the abolition of highway tolls.

Former finance minister Daim Zainuddin was quoted as saying on Feb 20, that "... after research and analysis, if the toll is to be abolished immediately, the government must pay RM110 billion compensation."

We would like the answers to the following questions:

• Who are the owners of the highway concessions? Are they Khazanah and EPF?
• If the Harapan government cannot change the terms of the concessionaire agreements, can it introduce and impose a killer tax in the form of 95 percent taxation rate for all revenue arising from the operation of highways tolls? This will surely bring the concessionaires to approach the government to renegotiate.
• It has been said that the highway concessionaires have already recouped their capital many times over; so why is Harapan continuing to honour sweetheart deals entered into by the BN government at less-than-arms'-length terms? Impose the punitive 95 percent tax and see them come running.
• Who are the beneficial holders of interests in continuing the toll concessions? If they are Khazanah and EPF, both controlled by the Harapan government, what is the hold-up to honouring an election promise?

Finally, remember the peribahasa "mahu seribu daya, tak mahu seribu dalih"

As a voter who was ecstatic after GE14, I am beginning to feel disappointed and disillusioned after promises after promises are broken. Nothing seems to change and our euphoria is slowly but surely evaporating.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.