Sim said the Prime Minister had only announced good news and was silent on the bad. “One of the worst news, in my opinion, is that the toll rates may see a drastic increase in 2017,” he said today.

He said the government had allocated RM593 million to compensate highway concessionaires for tolls foregone.

“The toll rates on eight highways, which should have gone up in January this year, have seen no increase to date,” he said.

Over the past 25 years, the government had paid compensation amounting to RM4.07 billion for 28 highways. However, next year’s budget did not contain “Item 27 – Works Ministry 080100 Payment of Compensation of Tolls” which had ‘disappeared’ or had been cancelled.

“This raises several questions and I ask the Works Minister Fadillah Yusof to explain them to the people as soon as possible,” he said in a statement with accompanying images.

Although Sim said he was not sure about the size of an increase in toll rates, “that I am sure of – thanks to the minister’s statement – is that the government is negotiating with several highway concessionaires including the North-South highway”.

He feared that the cancellation of the compensation item in the Budget signified a withdrawal of toll subsidies.

He asked the minister to give details of increased toll in 2017 and how much compensation will be charged to the government.