PENANG: The Works Ministry will need three years to streamline the management of highways in the country including ensuring the seamless payment system across the various roads managed by different concessionaires.
Minister Baru Bian said that the ministry was now in the midst of studying the various ramifications in a holistic way with an objective to fine-tune the highways so they meet the expectations of both the road users and stakeholders.
This includes having multi access to various highways through the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which can be used for toll collection at all toll plazas nationwide.
Baru was speaking after opening a national highway concession conference at the Lexis Suites Hotel in Teluk Kumbar here.
The conference was mooted by the Malaysian Highway Authority.
Baru also confirmed that an official offer from the conglomerate Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd has been received to take over the biggest highway operator - Plus Malaysia Berhad, which is a member of the United Engineers Malaysia Berhad.
“We will study the offer before discussing it at the cabinet level.”
“No company other than Maju Holdings has made an official offer. The matter is still with the ministry and it has not been brought to the Cabinet yet.”
Baru’s clarification differed from the one issued by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, who had stated that Plus’ two shareholders – Khazanah Nasional Bhd (51%) and EPF (49%) – were not keen over the offer by Maju.
Baru also said that the Works Ministry was studying the suggestion and was also conducting a holistic study on the future of highway tolls in the country.
The two-day conference is to share the aspirations, experiences and ideas on current challenges faced by the concessionaires, especially in financial, operations and maintenance aspects.
The event organised with the cooperation of the Association of Highway Concessionaires Malaysia is being attended by more than 300 local and foreign participants.
