The budget comes after a turbulent year for the transport sector. It saw the termination of the KL-Singapore High-Speed Rail Project (HSR) and the closure of borders, which caused many businesses reliant on travel to grind to a standstill.
Speaking to FMT, transport expert Goh Bok Yen said the government must slow down its pursuit of expensive infrastructure projects like the proposed KL-Johor HSR and instead pay more attention to the people’s welfare.
“The people are struggling so much now. There is no point looking at things that will only benefit the rakyat in 15 years when some may not be in a position to make it for five,” he said.
“We need to forget about things like a rail line to Johor or a train to Bangkok for now. These are not as important as keeping the economy going in the short term.”
He said that the key should be keeping petrol prices low, keeping bus and train fares low, and ensuring that the movement of goods through couriers and freights are kept running smoothly.
“This will contribute towards getting the people back on their feet properly. If they can get the people back to normal in two years, then they have done their job.”
Another expert, Rosli Azad Khan, said that there were long unanswered questions the government must look to in addressing the budget for next year.
“Why aren’t we encouraging the production of electrically powered motorbikes, for example?
“There is no specific policy at the moment to give incentives for the move towards electric vehicles. Other countries are making headway, but not Malaysia,” he said.
He added that with the number of railway projects currently underway, such as the ECRL and MRT lines, Malaysia must begin investing in component manufacturing because “we rely too heavily on imports for things like rails, electrical components, cables, carriages, signalling equipment and the like.”
Rosli also complained that there had yet to be a specific initiative put in place to revive the businesses of bus operators. He noted that interstate express buses had been stuck in neutral for most of the past 19 months due to the pandemic.
“We need to see some incentives or assistance from the transport ministry to kick start the sector. There has been no planning for the restart of interstate travel,” he said.
He added that the sector could not start by simply flipping a switch because buses that had remained idle for the better part of two years must be fully serviced before resuming operations in order to ensure passenger safety.