Malaysiakini : Penang Bridge Toll RM9.40 after Elections

70% toll hike slated for Penang bridge

Chua Sue-Ann & Beh Lih Yi | Mar 4, 08 5:02pm

Secret plans are afoot to increase the toll rates for the Penang bridge, to be implemented after the general election, disclosed opposition party PKR today. The party revealed that the increment would be by almost 70 percent, putting a bigger dent in the pockets of locals who are already reeling with the increase in the prices of daily necessary items. PKR - quoting a confidential correspondence between the bridge concessionaire and the federal government - said that the toll increment was to be on par with the rate fixed for the new second bridge. The toll rate for the new bridge, which has started construction works, is fixed at RM9.40. PKR's Pantai Jerejak state seat candidate Sim Tze Tzin made this revelation today citing a purported letter between United Engineers (Malaysia) Berhad (UEM) chief executive officer Ahmad Pardas Senin to the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department's director-general Dr Sulaiman Mahbob. At present, there are two different rates for cars plying the Penang bridge. Prepaid travel card Touch and Go users enjoy a discounted rate of RM5.60 while regular users pay RM7.00. Toll is only collected one-way. Sim, who claimed to have seen the document, said that the letter also pointed to the abolishment of the existing Touch and Go discounts. The new rate - if it is the same as the second bridge rate of RM9.40 - amounts to a 68 percent increase for Touch and Go users while regular drivers will have to fork out an extra 34 percent. Referring to the letter, Sim said the toll rates at the Penang bridge are due anyway for a two percent annual increase and compounded every five years to a maximum of RM11.50 until the year 2051. Sim declined to reveal as the source who leaked the correspondence but told reporters that it was dated August 2007.