KUCHING, Oct 6: Works Minister Baru Bian today clarified that tolls in the country would not be abolished, while the country is recovering from financial constraints.
“I was quoted as saying that the decision to abolish tolls in the peninsula would be made within the next two to three months. That’s not what I meant. What I meant was for us to find other alternatives on tolls.
“It had already been decided in Parliament recently to abolish tolls as per Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto; unfortunately, we had decided to postpone it until our country’s finance is restored,” explained Baru, in response to an erroneous article by an online news portal.
Baru said his ministry was working on alternatives to reduce the burden of road users plying tolled routes in the peninsula within the next two to three months. Among the proposed alternatives are giving rebates to toll users and reducing the toll rates.
But the decision to reduce the rates or abolish the tolls would implicate the concessionaires.
Therefore, a balance had to be met while considering the alternative options, he added.
“We have to weigh all these options in the next two to three months,” said Baru. — DayakDaily
