Govt not abolishing toll due to financial situation: Baru Bian

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will not abolish toll collection due to Malaysia's current financial situation, said Works Minister Baru Bian.
He said it is misleading to expect the new Pakatan Harapan government to do away with toll collection in two to three months.
"We will continue the present toll collection until the country's financial position is good ... this means we are looking at other alternatives," he told reporters when met on the sidelines of the Malaysia: A New Dawn 2018 Investor Conference, here today.
Baru said the Works Ministry spent between RM600 million and RM800 million of its RM2 billion annual budget for maintenance work.
"We have been asked to reduce further, meaning the ministry gets less than 50% of the RM2 billion budget. We have a 30% backlog of maintenance work to complete, if we do not carry out road maintenance, this backlog will rise to about 40% to 50%.
"Safety of road users is important, therefore we are going to plead with the Finance Ministry to get our allocation. If maintenance is not carried out then you will get potholes and other issues," he said. — Bernama