It’s daylight robbery, say road users

M E T R O

North Tuesday August 21, 2007
It’s daylight robbery, say road users

ROAD users have been urged to boycott the Sungai Nyior toll booth of the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR) on Sept 1 to convey their dissatisfaction over the toll collection.

Anti-Sungai Nyior Joint Committee co-chairman Kho Hai Meng said road users should protest the implementation of toll collection at the booth which was tantamount to “daylight robbery”.
“The committee is very unhappy to hear about the toll collection. In our opinion, the Government is not taking the people's welfare into consideration.

“The Government should listen to the people's complaints and be more transparent in its decision,” said Kho during a press conference in Butterworth yesterday.

The Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) had last week announced that concessionaire Lingkaran Luar Butterworth Sdn Bhd would collect toll at the Sungai Nyior toll booth of between 50 sen and RM2 effective Sept 1.
The toll booth, which is part of the 12.1km BORR, opened in January. Toll collections for BORR's three other toll booths have been implemented since Feb 12 and the decision to collect toll at Sungai Nyior was deferred following public protest.

Kho said the committee would also hold another campaign to collect signatures to protest against the move.

“During the first campaign held early this year, we collected nearly 8,000 signatures which were handed over to Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

“We would like the Government to disclose the contents of the contract between it and the concessionaire.

“We have the right to know why toll is being charged on a road that has been around for more than 10 years,” he said.

Kho noted that the committee was apolitical and merely represented the voice of an estimated 300,000 people from Seberang Prai and neighbouring Kulim and Padang Serai in Kedah who plied the road daily to go to work.

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