He told the Dewan Rakyat that the “large amount” in compensation that the government would have to pay the highway concessionaires was why the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government had been unable to deliver on its pre-election promise to abolish toll.

“Based on our studies at this point, the government cannot afford to abolish toll because of the large amount in compensation,” he said.

“Even PH, which promised to do it, realised that in reality, the government would have to pay a large amount in compensation.”

Fadillah (BN-Petra Jaya) was replying to a question from Fasiah Fakih (Bersatu-Sabak Bernam), who wanted to know whether the government planned to abolish highway toll.

While he did not provide an estimate on the total compensation involved, it was reported in 2019 that it would amount to RM18 billion just to make the four intra-Klang Valley highways owned by Gamuda Bhd toll-free.

Last April, the minister said the increase in toll rates for three major highways that was supposed to take effect on Jan 1 last year had been postponed to this year, and that the move would cost the government RM2.25 billion in compensation.

Meanwhile, Fadillah said his ministry had observed that vehicles using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags at toll booths had increased from 11% to 18%.

He also explained that the RFID system allowed 1,000 vehicles to pass through a toll gate each hour, compared to 450 vehicles using Touch ‘n Go (TnG) cards.

“Over the long-term, we hope our toll plazas will no longer have barriers so that vehicles don’t have to slow down or stop,” he said.