Public Transport Commission Still In Freezer

In my supplementary question to the Minister of Transport in Parliament yesterday, I asked the Minister on the status of the Commission of Pubic Transport (Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam) promised by the Prime Minister in his speech to the parliament on the 26th June 2008. I also asked if the chairmanship of the commission will rightly be given to the Minister of Transport.

In reply, the Minister of Transport announced that no decisions have yet been made on the set up of the Commission.

Needless to say, I'm extremely disappointed with the response, and total lack of urgency by the Government.

1. The absolute lack of progress, even on the simple act of appointing the chair of the Commission, clearly shows the lack of seriousness and priority placed on public transportation by the Barisan Nasional government. Despite the steep fuel price increases in the past 2 years, and despite promises that the Government will take immediate measures to provide efficient alternative public transport for the people.
   
   
2. Even to my original question of when and how much it'll cost to build the extensions to the existing LRT lines, the Minister announced that they have yet to be established.
   
   
3. Clearly, if the Minister of Transport is not appointed to lead the Commission, then once again the Minister, traditionally held by the President of MCA is marginalised within the Cabinet from responsibilities relating to public transport. It'll only prove that we have a Minister of Transprot which is not in charge of transport in Malaysia. And this brings to question the relevance of MCA in the cabinet led by Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
   
   
4. If the Ministry of Transport does not lead this Commission, then the consequence will be the creation of another government agency in addition to the existing quagmire of 13 agencies in-charge of public transportation in Malaysia.

It is time that the Government wakes up from its slumber and understand the difficulties and inconvenience suffered by the Malaysian public especially in the urban cities where they suffer from the double whammy of high fuel prices, but no efficient and viable public transportation sytem as an alternative.

Speech on Public Transportation

I had blogged earlier that as the 9th Malaysia Plan review debate time allocation was cut when I had my turn, I had to cut short my speech as well, and left out the portion on the public transportation mess.

On Wednesday, as we were debating the Supplementary Budget for 2008, I got my chance to speak as there was a period just after lunch break whereby many opposition MPs had not yet returned from a visit to the KL Police Station over Anwar's arrest that day. Hence, I was able to deliver my speech on public transportation in Malaysia. This is also the first time I had the opportunity to deliver a speech early in the day (when there are actually more MPs around, than say 10pm in the evening. Heh).

I won't repost my speech here, which was blogged earlier, but I had a few "minta penjelasan"s from Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs which I thought was interesting, which you can also read from the Hansard here, page 73.

The first was a question posed by former Minister, PADANG BESAR.

Dato' Seri Azmi bin Khalid [Padang Besar]: Boleh celah sikit?

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Sikit ya.

Dato' Seri Azmi bin Khalid [Padang Besar]: Saya ingin penjelasan. Petaling Jaya Utara datang ke negeri Selangor, negeri Selangor sudah diperintah oleh Parti Pakatan dan negeri
Pulau Pinang diperintah oleh DAP yang mana Yang Berhormat daripada DAP. Jadi, buatlah saja.
Kenapa dok blame kerajaan yang lama ini? Yang tak buat, tak mengapa, okey tapi kenapa
blame? Buat sekarang kerana kita dah memerintah negeri, tunjukkan teladan. Kita negeri kaya,
bukan negeri miskin. Kalau Perlis itu miskin tapi Penang dan Selangor negeri kaya. Buatlah.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Itu masalah senang saja. Sebab negeri
Selangor, dia punya annual budget, satu budget RM1.3 bilion. Annual budget bagi Pulau Pinang
RM380 juta sahaja. Menteri Pengangkutan, dia punya bajet RM23 bilion. Apa nak buat? Mana
boleh bagi.

Dato' Seri Azmi bin Khalid [Padang Besar]: Itu bajet yang tak termasuk pengangkutan.
Masukkan pengangkutan, besarkan bajet.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Pengangkutan satu tanggungjawab pihak
persekutuan. Bukan tanggungjawab dalam negeri.

Then, it was followed by REMBAU, who sought clarification in the later part of my speech:

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: [Bangun]

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Ya Yang Berhormat Rembau Yang Berhormat. Nak bagi jalan?

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Sikit ya?

(We always ask "sikit ya?" because these interruptions actually eat into your allocated speech time of 10 minutes, so if these "penjelasan" turn into mini-speeches by the other guys, then you will have no time to finish your speech.)

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Terima kasih. Tadi Yang Berhormat daripada PJ Utara ada sebut tentang penjimatan daripada penstrukturan semula subsidi ini dan
sebahagian daripada itu digunakan untuk pengangkutan awam. Ini soal keutamaan daripada segi
penjimatan yang didapati oleh kerajaan. Sama ada kerajaan akan membelanjakan duit itu untuk
pengangkutan awam ataupun untuk perkara-perkara yang lain. Kerajaan Barisan Nasional telah
putuskan untuk membelanjakan duit tersebut sebahagian besar dalam bentuk subsidi makanan
dan juga dasar keselamatan makanan. Jadi adakah Yang Berhormat daripada PJ Utara
menyarankan agar duit untuk menampung subsidi bagi seluruh rakyat Malaysia untuk memberi
makanan yang cukup dengan harga yang munasabah itu diambil untuk pengangkutan awam bagi
rakyat yang ada di Lembah Kelang. Ini adalah trade-off Saya minta penjelasan daripada YB.

[Fong Kui Lun (BUKIT BINTANG) then interjected here to repeat that the RM4.4b allocated for public transport disappeared since petrol prices were increased 30 sen in 2006]

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Saya pohon laluan sebab ini dituju kepada kerajaan, saya Ahli Parlimen kerajaan. Saya minta laluan.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Saya dah bagi tadi, saya dah bagi tadi.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Sikit saja, sikit saja.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Saya tahu, faham you nak kata harga minyak dah naik sebab itu RM4.4 bilion itu sudah tidak ada. Saya tahu, saya tahu.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Ya, memang betul. Jadi jawablah. Tolong didik sikit kepada Yang Berhormat .... sama.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Tadi Yang Berhormat Rembau, Yang Berhormat Rembau....

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Ya, teruskan Yang Berhormat.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: .....telah berkata bahawa subsidi makanan lebih penting. Subsidi makanan yang ditambah hanya tak sampai RM2 bilion, tak sampai RM2
bilion.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Dasar Keselamatan...

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Nak bagi Yang Berhormat?

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Tak bagi jalan.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: ...Makanan Negara adalah sebanyak RM4 bilion.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Subsidi makanan tak sampai RM2 bilion. Mana boleh kata...

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Dasar Keselamatan Negara...

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: ...mengutamakan perbelanjaan terhadap subsidi makanan.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: ...Food Security Policy...

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat Rembau, cukuplah Yang Berhormat Rembau.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: .....Jangan macam inilah. Saya gentleman selalu. Saya tak bagi, duduk dulu.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Kenapa Yang Berhormat PJ Utara tak baca RM4 bilion untuk Dasar Keselamatan Makanan?

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Inilah dia. Tuan Yang di-Pertua.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Ya teruskan, teruskan Yang Berhormat PJ Utara.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: Tak, saya tak nak orang putar belitkan fakta.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Tak apalah Yang Berhormat.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Eh, saya nak berikan fakta. You tak bagi saya jawab, saya nak jawab ini.

Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Rembau]: RM4 bilion untuk Dasar Keselamatan Makanan.

Puan Fong Po Kuan [Batu Gajah]: [Menyampuk] Jangan bisinglah Yang Berhormat Rembau.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Ya teruskan Yang Berhormat PJ Utara.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Okey, perkara yang satu. Subsidi makanan tak sampai ....

Tuan N. Gobalakrishnan [Padang Serai]: [Menyampuk] Yang Berhormat Rembau jadi menteri senang. Bapa mertua Perdana Menteri.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Minta jalan Yang Berhormat ya.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: ....subsidi makanan tak sampai RM2 bilion.

Yang kedua, maksud Yang Berhormat Rembau itu sistem pengangkutan awam di kawasan
Lembah Kelang, di Johor Bahru, di Pulau Pinang tidak penting, tidak penting. Oleh sebab itu
dipinggirkan oleh kerajaan Barisan Nasional.

Yang ketiga, walaupun minyak petrol, harga minyak petrol pasaran seluruh dunia telah meningkat, akan tetapi bajet negara kita sejak tahun 2005 telah meningkat sekurang-kurangnya RM40 bilion. Kenapa tak boleh berikan sedikit, lebih sikit untuk pengangkutan awam. Kenapa tak boleh? Kegagalan sistem pengangkutan awam di Malaysia hari ini siapa yang patut bertanggungjawab?

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Gulung Yang Berhormat, gulung.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Okey. Hakikat ini, hakikat yang dijelaskan
Yang Berhormat Perdana Menteri telah mengumumkan satu lagi suruhanjaya yang baru iaitu
Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam. Penubuhan suruhanjaya ini nampaknya lucu sedikit kerana
kita sudah ada Kementerian Pengangkutan. Kenapa pula perlu sebuah Suruhanjaya
Pengangkutan lagi? Sebenarnya Yang Amat Berhormat Perdana Menteri menubuhkan
suruhanjaya baru ini adalah sebab Kerajaan Barisan Nasional ini mempunyai cara
menguruskan...

And now, I don't think I'll ever finish a speech in parliament without our PASIR SALAK friend raising the issue of blogs. It's quite farcical actually... ;-)

Dato' Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: [Menyampuk] Main blog saja lah.

Tuan Pua Kiam Wee [Petaling Jaya Utara]: Terima kasih Yang Berhormat Pasir Salak. Saya tahu [Pasir Salak] tak ada blog.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Ya gulung Yang Berhormat, gulung.

Dato' Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: [Menyampuk] Tak layak jadi wakil rakyat pun. Main bloglah.

Anyway, it's certainly a better speech compared to some others I've made in Parliament (in terms of delivery, the last one being quite poor). Will see if I can put up a video of it somewhere. ;-) As mentioned earlier, the full text of the actual speech is here.

Transportation Priorities

The following is an article forwarded to me with regards to concerns over the mixed-up priorities of the BN government over transportation infrastructure investments. The RM16 billion double-tracking project goes ahead but the RM3.6 monorail in Penang gets shelved.

The author is a Director of Research with a fund management company, and with his kind permission, I'll post his analysis here.

Can we really afford RM16bn in double tracking railways?
Choong Khuat Hock

Trains have transformed transportation and boosted economic activities since steam locomotives were introduced in 1800s. Lately fast train services between cities have linked cities thereby enhancing economic linkages. Examples include the Shinkansen trains in Japan with speeds of up to 300km per hour, the Taiwan High Speed Rail which reduced the travel time of the 335.5km Taipei to Kaohsiung route from 4.5 hours to 90 minutes and the French high speed TGV trains which connect major French cities. TGV trainsets travel at up to 320 km/h in commercial use.

A specially modified TGV trainset attained 574.8 km/h on test runs, narrowly missed beating the overall world train speed record of 581km/h which was reached in 2003 by a Japanese magnetic levitation or maglev trains. Unfortunately, the proposed high speed train from KL to Singapore taking only 90 minutes has been cancelled.

The fast train proposal from KL to Johor/Singapore linking metropolitan areas with a population of 11m would have boosted property prices in KL and Johor and enhance the services sector of both cities. With private sector participation in a bankable project, the cost to taxpayers would have been minimised.

Instead at a time when the people are being asked to make sacrifices to reduce subsidies for the sake of development projects, one has to question the economic benefits arising from the Double Tracking Railway from Ipoh to the Thai border that will cost taxpayer RM12.5bn, of which RM5bn is just for signaling.

This project was initially supposed to be a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funded by the private sector but as the financial return from the project is bad, it was decided that the funding will come from the government (i.e. taxpayers). The 329km Ipoh to Padang Besar railway will cost a massive RM38m per km which is 62% higher than RM23.5km for the 179km double-tracking railway from Rawang to Ipoh, completed for only RM4.2bn.

It is difficult to justify the economics of the project especially when KTMB only generated RM70.7m from their intercity services and RM113.0m from freight services in 2006. The freight services are less sensitive to travel time so the main benefit is likely to be shorter commuting time for passengers. Cutting the travelling time to 2.5 hours is hardly an irrestible proposition as the journey by road is only 2 hours. KTMB which made a net loss of RM99.2m at the group level in 2006, is definitely not in a position to fund the double tracking railway.

The double tracking project from Ipoh to Padang Besar has been awarded to Gamuda and MMC. Margins for the project have been squeezed by rising steel, cement and other building material costs. The project requires 400,000 tonnes of steel.

In addition to that, the government has also awarded a RM3.5bn contract to build a double track from Seremban to Gemas. The contract was awarded to an Indian company, IRCON International, which in turn subcontracted infrastructure works to a JV between IJM and Norwest which won a RM490.1m contract and a JV between Loh & Loh and Pasti Abad isdn Bhd which won a RM273.0m contract.

At a time when there is a need to enhance public transport within cities to relieve congestion and to reduce vehicle use, spending a total of RM16bn (largest among government development projects) on rails from Ipoh to the Thai border and Seremban to Gemas is rather perplexing.

In the meantime, the much needed RM1.6bn Penang monorail has been deferred. The monorail or an alternative system would have helped to relieve acute traffic congestion in George Town. For the project to happen, the co-operation of the Ministry of Transport and the Penang State Government is required. In the mid-term review of the 9th Malaysian Plan, the government has deferred the much needed project while proceeding with the less economically viable double tracking railway projects.

The LRT and monorails in the Klang Valley which were completed in 1998 do not have a good track record. Star and PUTRA had to be bailed out by the government through the issue of RM5.5bn of bonds backed by government-owned Syarikat Prasarana Negara Malaysia (SPNB) in 2001 as the traffic volumes were less than one third of forecast demand. The LRT operations were leased back to the management of PUTRA and STAR while taxpayers bore the debt. The KL Monorail which started operations in 2003 was also loss-making and its RM882m loan has to be assumed by SPNB in November 2007.

Criticisms of the KL urban rail systems include the lack of connectivity and capacity constraints. The Bangkok Transit System (BTS), HK’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and the Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) appear to be better planned and enjoy superior capacity and connectivity.

It is true that the government needs to spend on infrastructure but it is important that taxpayers’ money is spent on projects that generate economic returns for the country. Construction companies being awarded the massive railway jobs may not be smiling as rises in building material prices have eaten into margins. Cost overruns are likely to increase the price tags of these mega-projects while further rises in oil prices have whittled away savings in subsidies arising from the fuel price hike.

This is clearly a time when unnecessary mega-projects need to be derailed.

Public Transportation Mess

This was the Part 2 of my speech to debate the 9th Malaysia Plan mid-term review, which would have been delivered, had the time to speak not been cut to 10 minutes. As I mentioned earlier, on hindsight I probably should have spoken on this Part 2 which covered the issue of transportation and not Part 1 on economy which many have spoken about.

Anyway, I wanted to highlight the complete overhaul which is needed to solve our public transportation problems in this country. I had also voiced my disappointment to the policies (if any) which was put forward by the Prime Minister in the mid-term review.

Di kalangan pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO), cadangan YB Perdana Menteri untuk mewujudkan satu Pelan Induk Pengangkutan amat menggelikan (amused). Ini bermaksud selama 50 tahun ini, kerajaan telah lalai dalam tanggungjawabnya kerana kerajaan telah mengurus tanpa sebarang pelan untuk mewujudkan satu sistem pengangkutan yang terpadu.

Sekarang, harga minyak telah meningkat dengan cepat sekali, apanya alternatif kepada rakyat Malaysia? Manakah sistem pengangkutan awam berkesan yang sering dijanji oleh kerajaan?

Penggunaan sistem pengangkutan awam di Lembah Klang telah menurun sehingga 16% sahaja berbanding dengan 40% pada tahun 1980an. Sepatutnya, bagi bandaraya negara yang maju, penggunaan sistem pengangkutan awam adalah melebihi 70%.

Sekarang, kita nak datang ke parlimen pun takda bas yang boleh dinaiki kecuali menggunakan teksi.

Pada tahun 2006, semasa harga petrol dinaiki 30 sen, kerajaan berjanji memperuntukkan RM4.4 bilion kepada dana sistem pengangkutan awam. Apa telah jadi dengan dana ini?

Pada masa itu juga, kerajaan mengemukakan pelan LRT yang baru, di mana satu aliran baru ditubuhkan ke Kota Damansara, and aliran yang sedia ada dipanjangkan ke Puchong. Akan tetapi bukan sahaja kerja ke atas projek LRT langsung tidak bergerak selama 3 tahun ini, sekarang, kerajaan sekali lagi mengemukakan pelan yang sama sebagai jawab kenaikan harga petrol. Suratkhabar The Star dan lain-lain pun menerbitkan pelan LRT yang dikemukakan sebagai satu pelan yang baru, memberikan berita baik kepada penduduk-penduduk di Lembah Klang.

YB Perdana Menteri mengumumkan bahawa kajian separuh penggal rancangan Malaysia akan memberi tumpuan kepada sistem pengangkutan awam. Tetapi, seperti yang telah dijanjikan sebelum ini, cakap kerajaan tak serupa bikin.

Peningkatan harga petrol bulan lalu dianggar menjimatkan kerajaan sebanyak RM13.7 bilion. Akan tetapi, hanya 11% ataupun 1.6 bilion sahaja daripada penjimatan tersebut diperuntukkan untuk menaik tarafkan sistem pengangkutan awam di Malaysia. Walaupun peruntukan baru sebanyak RM30 bilion telah diumumkan, tiada peruntukan tambahan diberi untuk sistem pengangkutan awam. Jumlah RM1.6 bilion langsung tidak mencukup untuk memberikan pengangkutan alternatif yang memuaskan untuk rakyat terutamanya di kawasan bandar seperti Lembah Klang, Johor Bahru dan Pulau Pinang.

Kegagalan sistem pengangkutan awam di Malaysia hari ini, siapa yang patut bertanggungjawab? Adakah kementerian Pengangkutan dan menteri-menterinya yang sebelum ini yang bertanggungjawab?

Selepas tsunami politik yang baru berlepas, kita bertuah mendapat seorang Menteri Pengangkutan baru, tapi saya kesian sama dia. Bukan sahaja dia kena menghadapi cabaran yang sukar sekali untuk memulihkan maruah MCA selepas dilantik Presiden pada bulan Oktober yang akan datang, dia telah dilantik sebagai Menteri Pengangkutan yang langsung tidak berkuasa untuk menaiktarafkan sistem pengangkutan awam di Malaysia.

Hakikat ini jelas kerana YB Perdana Menteri telah mengumumkan satu lagi suruhanjaya yang baru, iaitu Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam. Pertubuhan suruhanjaya ini nampaknya lucu sedikit, kerana kita sudah ada Kementerian Pengangkutan, kenapa pula perlu sebuah lagi suruhanjaya pengangkutan?

Sebenarnya, YB Perdana Menteri menubuhkan suruhanjaya yang baru ini adalah sebab kerajaan Barisan Nasional ini mempunyai cara mengurus sistem pengangkutan awam yang tidak masuk akal dan barangkali yang terkekok di seluruh dunia.

Pengurusan sistem pengangkutan awam di Malaysia bukannya bertumpu di Kementerian Pengangkutan tetapi dibahagi kepada 13 agensi kerajaan di kementerian yang tidak berkaitan. Terutamanya Lembaga Perlesenan Kenderaan Perdagangan (LPKP) bawah Kementerian Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi, yang menguasai pengendalian lesen bas dan teksi, Kementerian Kewangan yang menguasai bas dan LRT RapidKL dan Kementerian Pengangkutan yang menguruskan keretapi KTM.

Oleh sebab itu, saya menyeru supaya kerajaan mengenepikan faktor kepentingan politik, dan fikiran yang kolot, dan mengambil langkah untuk menggabungkan kesemua badan dan agensi yang melibatkan sistem pengangkutan awam ke bawah pimpinan YB Menteri Pengangkutan.

Kita yakin, YB akan dapat menjalankan tanggungjawab dengan lebih berkesan jika diberikan kuasa yang berpatutan. Kalau tidak, apa gunanya kerajaan menubuhkan suruhanjaya-suruhanjaya yang yang baru ini, yang hanya menunjuk bahawa peralatan kerajaan telahpun gagal menyelesaikan masalah rakyat selama ini.

New Fare Structure for RapidKL?

Since we are on the subject of petrol hikes, and it has always been this author's position that we should focus on building alternative transport systems to alleviate the cost, and increasing convenience, particularly with regards to living in the city.

The following is a letter from Moaz, a fervent public transport advocate on the recent cabinets (in)decision to withdraw subsidies from RapidKL, which I thought was worth antithetical to exactly what the government needs to do with public transport at this point of time.

It is interesting to know that the recent decision by the Cabinet Commitee to withdraw the RapidKL operations subsidy was made at the same time that a court case that same subsidy was still pending. You may recall the lawsuit announced by Metrobus in March 2008. Metrobus named the CVLB as a defendant and indicated in the court proceedings that the CVLB had breached their own regulations by allowing RapidKL to offer a lower fare than the other operators. The court case was to be mentioned in late April, but I presume it still pending. In any case, the Cabinet Committee has effectively decided on the court case in favour of Metrobus.

It is ironic that the pressure on RapidKL is coming from their offering fares that were "too low" for the industry. It is ironic because normally the Malaysian government focuses on prices that are too high. In this era of inflation, one would think that a company offering low prices would be applauded. Well, Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines are applauded, but for some reason, RapidKL has their operations subsidy withdrawn. The new fare structure has been decided in Putrajaya, with very little consultation with RapidKL and clearly, very little interest in the wishes or the needs of passengers.

This kind of interference by the Cabinet Committee and the federal government, combined with their ignorance and lack of interest in local affairs, suggest a serious mismanagement of public transportation in this country.

That is why I am quite surprised to hear that the Cabinet is still continuing with the withdrawal of the operations subsidy to RapidKL, especially at this time when there should be a greater boost for public transportation.
In most places throughout the world, it is accepted that it is very very tough for public transport operators to make a profit without sacrificing service. Most countries and cities provide funds for their public transport operators. Here in Malaysia, it seems that the government wants to do the opposite, pushing bus operators to sacrifice service in order to make a profit.
How can the government talk about improving public transportation when they cannot even provide operations funding (let's not call it a subsidy) for the bus operators?

In fact, the government should be increasing the funds available to public transport operators, either through capital or operations funds. Perhaps this would lead the other bus operators to improve the frequency, punctuality, and reliability of their services. RapidKL may have a long way to go in terms for frequency, punctuality and reliability but they are miles ahead of the bus operators.
Finally, the government should be using this opportunity to implement KUTA, the proposed Klang Valley Urban Transport Authority, which was suggested more than 10 years ago. The presence of a Regional/Local Public Transport Authority for the Klang Valley will make a huge difference. With the cooperation of local government and the Public Transport Authority, we could see a huge increase in the quality of public transport services, in a very short time.

With the recent increase in petrol prices, the rakyat would expect that their government would act to show Malaysians that they are actually taking real steps to improve public transport. The withdrawal of the RapidKL operations funds, the long delay of the proposed Klang Valley Urban Transport Authority, and the continued investment in LRT and monorail construction show us that the government is either not ready or not willing to take these real steps and prefers instead to dream the "LRT Dream" and ignore the "bus nightmare."

Sincerely

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad
moaz.ahmad (at) gmail (dot) com

Spanking New CIQ Johor Bahru?

Ater 41 years of being in operation, the Malaysia-Singapore Causeway checkpoint finally closed its doors at 12.01am on 15 Dec. All activities and its operations moved to the spanking new Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex.

The immigration department director said that “traffic was at a slight crawl as there were some technical difficulties. All immigration personnel have been moved to the new complex, and we expect the new complex will reduce traffic congestion."

But since, the Star letters page have been flooded with non-stop complaints. I'm sure they have received much more rude letters which can't actually be printed as well from commuters. Check out letters "Chaos at new CIQ Complex", "No excuse for chaos" and "Pedestrians have it tough".

And 'Suffered Man' wrote to me to describe the complete failure by the traffic and engineering consultants at the CIQ.

Hi Tony,

I am one of the few hundred thousands of people travelling everyday to work in Singapore. The new CIQ that was operated fully since Tuesday, 16th Dec. have caused a disaster to us.

I feel very very disappointed because our stupid government never study properly on whole building design. The roads lead to the checkpoint are very narrow (2 lines). So it causea bottleneck at checkpoint. Imagine the mouth is so big but the stomach is so small. The traffic at the entrance is so massive but inner ring roads are only two lanes.

Malaysia boleh?  Pic courtesy of The Star Gallery

How do they going to solve this problem? The roads have been built, and seem like there are no ways to expand it. Did they survey properly on the traffic flow before building this CIQ? I think probably NO.

I just think that we are earning foreign currency and brining back to Malaysia to spend, more or less has been helping local economy to go on. We love our country. But did country loves too? What has this stupid government done to us? Those VIP & VVIP come down JB and have a grant opening for CIQ, then left silently without taking care of our suffer here after this.

Please help us to question them in Parliment, how are they going to solve this problems??? If not those VIP & VVIP will 'buat tak tau' and never solve this problem at all.

If you go back to your hometown (Batu Pahat), kindly do pay a visit to this 'luxurious' CIQ.

Your help is much highly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Suffered Man from JB

Taxi!

I've written a few times on public transportation in this country, but one of the issues which I'm extremely concerned about but have not really delve into is the issue of taxis in Malaysia.

I had the opportunity, and was in time (after being released from my arrest) to pose my question in Parliament during the oral question and answer session to the Minister of Entrepreneurship Development and Cooperatives (MEDC) on Monday last week on the state of affairs of the taxi system in the country at this point of time.

[PETALING JAYA UTARA] minta Menteri Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi menyatakan sebab kegagalan kerajaan melaksanakan dan menguatkuasakan kegunaan sistem tambang bermeter untuk perkhidmatan teksi, terutamanya di bandar-bandar pelancongan seperti Pulau Pinang, Melaka dan Johor Bahru dan juga tempat tertentu di Lembah Klang seperti Perhentian Bas Pudu Raya dan KL Sentral.

His response was the lengthiest I've received on the issue, as is also available from the Hansard here (pages 2-5).

Menteri Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi [Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar]: Tuan Yang di-Pertua, untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, kegagalan kerajaan melaksanakan dan menguatkuasakan kegunaan sistem tambang bermeter untuk perkhidmatan teksi terutamanya di bandar-bandar pelancongan seperti Pulau Pinang, Melaka dan Johor Bahru dan juga tempat tertentu di Lembah Klang seperti Perhentian Bas Pudu Raya dan KL Sentral adalah disebabkan perkara-perkara seperti berikut:

(i) sikap pemandu yang berasa mereka mempunyai pilihan untuk mengaut keuntungan dalam jangka masa pendek tanpa memikirkan kesan jangka masa panjang di mana kemungkinan pemilik lesen dikenakan tindakan gantung atau batal lesen sekiranya sabit kesalahan hasil aduan atau tangkapan penguat kuasa LPKP atau JPJ;

(ii) sikap penumpang yang masih mempunyai persepsi yang kurang tepat tentang konsep menggunakan khidmat teksi di mana penumpang masih bertanyakan pemandu tentang harga tambang dan lokasi, sedangkan mereka sepatutnya hanya perlu terus masuk ke dalam teksi dan meminta pemandu ke destinasi yang diingini; dan

(iii) sikap pengadu yang kurang memberi kerjasama dalam menyampaikan maklumat secara lengkap untuk laporan terperinci disediakan serta mengelak untuk menjadi saksi atas kesalahan melibatkan pemandu.

Walau bagaimanapun, pihak kementerian serta agensi-agensi penguat kuasa lain terus
menguatkuasakan sistem tambang bermeter melalui:

(i) operasi harian dan berkala di kawasan zon teksi dengan mengambil tindakan terhadap teksi yang terbabit oleh LPKP; dan

(ii) operasi penyamaran dengan menaiki teksi bagi memastikan pemandu menggunakan meter oleh JPJ.

Secara keseluruhannya bagi tempoh Januari hingga Jun 2008 sebanyak 1,298 kes
tangkapan dibuat untuk pelbagai jenis kesalahan melibatkan teksi di Semenanjung Malaysia oleh LPKP. Daripada jumlah ini sebanyak 771 kes atau 60% merupakan kes tangkapan terhadap kesalahan enggan menggunakan meter. Terima kasih.

It was lengthy but it still did not really answer the question as to why it's happening today. Hence in my supplementary question, I wanted to push my point that the Ministry has failed after all these years, and a new paradigm is required to resolve this issue:

[Petaling Jaya Utara]: Terima kasih Tuan Yang di-Pertua, terima kasih Yang Berhormat Menteri. Masalah ini adalah satu masalah yang agak lama sejak saya pertama kali datang ke Kuala Lumpur 20 tahun yang lalu. Pertama kali datang kena tipu oleh pihak polis - pihak polis pulak - pihak pemandu teksi dengan harga yang mahal. [Ketawa]

Tahun ini juga saya melancong ke Pulau Pinang, perjalanan yang agak pendek dari KOMTAR ke Padang Brown yang memakan masa tidak melebihi 5 minit pun kena RM10 juga. Masalah ini sudah lama. Kenapa sampai sekarang ini belum lagi dapat selesai? 

Kenapa bila saya pergi ke negara lain walaupun bukannya negara maju seperti Singapore dan Hong Kong, pergi Thailand, pergi Vietnam, pergi Jakarta, semua pakai meter. Semua dapat pakai meter.

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua: Baik, Yang Berhormat. Soalan, Yang Berhormat.

[Petaling Jaya Utara]: Soalan saya, berapa antara yang ditangkap kerana tidak menggunakan meter telah pun digantung lesennya. Adakah kementerian terlalu lenient terhadap pemandu-pemandu teksi yang tidak mengikut peraturan dan adakah kementerian benar-benar berhasrat untuk menghapuskan masalah ini? Kalau tidak, adakah ianya lebih baik jika tugas ini diserahkan kepada...

[Batu Pahat]: Panjang sangat itu.

[Petaling Jaya Utara]: ...Kementerian Pengangkutan dan kalau tidak, boleh jadi tugas ini boleh diserahkan kepada kuasa negeri-negeri untuk menyelesaikan masalah ini.

Dato’ Dr. Mohamad Shahrum bin Osman [Lipis]: Patutlah kena pukul oleh polis.

Note the interjection by LIPIS displays the standard of government backbenchers you have in Parliament. The Minister's reply was as follows, and the little pandemonium in between:

Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar: Terima kasih Yang Berhormat. Seperti mana saya nyatakan tadi ada tiga sebab mengapa kita sukar mengambil tindakan. Salah satu sebabnya seperti Yang Berhormatlah, saya ingat. Ini masuk kategori yang ketiga iaitu sikap pengadu yang tidak memberikan kerjasama. Kalau Yang Berhormat sudah naik kereta teksi di Pulau Pinang, sepatutnya Yang Berhormat ambillah dia punya nombor – ambil nombor, ambil nama, beritahu jam pukul berapa – hantar kepada saya. Saya janji saya mesti ambil tindakan. Kita boleh gantung dan kita boleh batalkan. Tindakan kita sudah ambil.

Saya sudah kata tadi bahawa setengah daripada tangkapan yang kita buat, 771 kes kita telah ambil tindakan kerana tidak menggunakan meter dan soalan Yang Berhormat, kita di...

[Petaling Jaya Utara]: Ada digantung tidak?

Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar: Sabarlah. Itu yang polis pukul itu, belum habis jawab lagi sudah bangun. [Disorak]

Beberapa Ahli: [Menyampuk]

Tuan M. Kula Segaran [Ipoh Barat]: Apa ini cheap shotlah. What a cheap shot.

Tuan N. Gobalakrishnan [Padang Serai]: Menteri...

Dato’ Haji Lilah Yasin [Jempol]: Padan kena pukul.

Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar: Yang Berhormat...

Tuan N. Gobalakrishnan [Padang Serai]: Apa ini?

Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar: ...Yang Berhormat, patut Yang Berhormat nasihat dia. Ini my floor. Saya belum habis jawab lagi.

Tuan M. Kula Segaran [Ipoh Barat]: Ini jawab takutkah?

Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad [Kuala Selangor]: Tak betul, tak betul.

Tuan M. Kula Segaran [Ipoh Barat]: We must understand.

Dato’ Haji Lilah bin Yasin [Jempol]: Orang jahat mesti kena pukul. [Dewan riuh]

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Haji Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar]: Baik Yang
Berhormat.

Tuan M. Kula Segaran [Ipoh Barat]: We must understand the trouble went through.

Tuan N. Gobalakrishnan [Padang Serai]: [Bercakap tanpa pembesar suara]

Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Dr. Haji Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar]: Yang Berhormat Padang Serai, Yang Berhormat Ipoh Barat minta tolong. Yang Berhormat Menteri jawab teruskanlah.

Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar: Bukan understand. Sama-samalah kena understand. Janganlah suruh kerajaan sahaja faham, pembangkang tak nak faham. Sama-sama kena faham. Bagi saya habis dahulu.

[...]

Dato’ Haji Noh bin Haji Omar: Tindakan yang telah kita ambil ialah sebanyak 1,173 iaitu, kita sudah beri amaran - 80, kita gantung – 23, kita batalkan lesen – 700 dan kita kompaun – 1,063. Bermakna tindakan telah diambil. Akan tetapi saya percaya Tuan Yang di-Pertua, kalau ramai lagi pengguna-pengguna teksi tampil ke hadapan memberikan maklumat lebih terperinci, kita akan mengambil tindakan yang lebih tegas. Terima kasih.

There's plenty more to say here, but this post is long enough, so I'll leave the readers to make their comments first and make my comments later. Suffice it to say, there's still plenty of question marks, and placing the onus on the MP to report any intransigent taxi drivers to solve the problems is just a non-starter.  Of course, the "kena pukul" pandemonium provided the unnecessary distraction. ;-)

Tokyo - A Livable Metropolis?

Tokyo skyscrapers

As blogged earlier, I've just gotten back from Tokyo early this morning. As most of the time, I was stuck in the hotel attending the conference, I didn't manage to do too much sight-seeing, but I did manage to squeeze some time out to do some (will post pictures later - pics posted here from public sources).

One thing however struck me really hard during my brief visit was how remarkably "livable" the metropolis was (for those who experienced otherwise, do share your views here). Lets get some facts out of the way:

Over eight million people live within Tokyo's 23 wards. During the daytime, the population swells by over 2.5 million as workers and students commute from adjacent areas. This effect is even more pronounced in the three central wards of Chiyoda, Chūō, and Minato, whose collective population is less than 300,000 at night, but over two million during the day. The entire prefecture has 12,790,000 residents in October 2007 (8,657,000 in 23 wards), with an increase of over 3 million in the day. (source: Wikipedia)

The population density for Tokyo is 5,796 persons per km². This doesn't take into account an additional 2-3 million workers who commute from outside Tokyo into the city. In addition, this number does not take into account the fact that officially, several outlying islands are official part of Tokyo "land area" as well, which means that the density is likely significantly higher. This compares also against 6,489 persons per km² in Singapore.

Now, given such immense density and skyscrapers within the inner city, one would certainly have expected a certain level of traffic congestion, and probably a significant number of highways criss-crossing the city.

More Tokyo skyscrapers

But no! Right in the city centre, during peak hours, I hardly see many cars on the road. All cars which stopped at traffic lights will get to clear them in one go, and the lights actually switches pretty fast to cater to pedestrians. Where did all the traffic go? And trust me, their skyscrapers are just humongous!

And in the Tokyo suburbs (e.g., Seputeh or Petaling Jaya), most amazingly, the roads are tiny, often barely enough for 1 vehicle to pass through in their residential roads. Yet at the same time, the city generously allocates and cordon off a sizeable portion of the road for pedestrians and cyclists' use. Throughout my stay there, I've never seen these residential roads streaming with motor vehicles.

Yet in Petaling Jaya, many neighbourhood residential roads are becoming main access roads, while access roads have become thoroughfares, and highways such as LDP become massive car parks, especially during peak perids. And we don't have the population, its density and the skyscrapers to match cities like Tokyo or Singapore.

Very simply, the solution is really in creating and building an efficient public transportation system. And this unfortunately, is rather non-existent in Petaling Jaya. If you need to get from Taman Mayang to SS2, there is no option except taking a taxi or your own private vehicle.

In Tokyo, I've never had to wait longer than 5 minutes for any train, even during off-peak hours (didn't get a chance to try their bus system, especially since I'd seriously lack the language skills!)

Hence, if businessmen, developers, some politicians and civil servants are to argue that we need to develop Petaling Jaya further to boost our economy, raise income and wealth levels, I do not totally disagree. In fact, I would agree also with the fact that Petaling Jaya still have plenty of room to "develop" further, especially when contrasted against cities of the developed world.

However, as highlighted in my earlier post yesterday, all new (yet to be approved) major developments must cease so that the city and the state can catch its breath and take stock of the cost of unplanned development, without the necessary mobility infrastructure in place. And as long as the various federal ministries in charge of public transportation do not get their act together and drastically reform and improve the current system, then development will unfortunately have to be limited to the low-rise horizontal sort, instead of the more profitable vertical sort.

The Paradigm - Where did the hills come from?

Looking for example, at the "visual illustration" of The Paradigm mega-development project next to Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong (LDP), you would notice how it gives a false sense of space and tranquility with all four corners of its surroundings lined with open spaces and pretty trees. There are even trees-covered hills at a not too far distance away (no idea which part of PJ is that! ;-)).

The buildings are in no doubt top class buildings from a reputable developer listed on Bursa Malaysia. I'm not questioning their quality. I'm just asking, whether we, the city, is ready to cope with such projects cropping up all over the town. Or should it continue to be build first, cope later, like the policies of the previous government.

The trip to Tokyo, sponsored by the Asia Society, certainly opened my eyes a fair bit on how "good" things can still be, despite humongous developments. It's much better than even the state of affairs in enviable cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

Footnote: I've received a fair bit of response from volunteers who are willing to help me with the petition in PJ. I'm still looking for more, so email me if you are keen to help turn PJ into a more livable city.

Freeze High Density Development in PJ?

A daily sight, especially on LDP where the traffic load
has already exceeded the capacity it was built.

The Paradigm - A mega commerial high density project undergoing construction
next to the LDP which will lead to further congestion to LDP
and its neighbouring roads.  How did the traffic study get approved?

This issue was reported in The Star Metro a week or so ago, which highlighted the fact that Petaling Jaya faces real risks of becoming over-developed, if not already so. The journalist, Tan Karr Wei spoke to a few local councillors - Cynthia Gabriel and Robert Tan of MBPJ, and myself on the issue. My comments are as follows.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua feels that these kinds of developments would eventually lower the quality of life for PJ residents with many long-term implications such as the lack of open spaces, insufficient drainage, traffic congestions, increase in pollution, among others. Pua said that the city was starting to display traits of becoming overdeveloped.

“We are now finding big shopping centres approved by the previous government at busy traffic junctions, or in the middle of residential areas without appropriate access roads and even conversion of open spaces to large commercial and high density residential projects all around PJ. Comparatively, cities such as Singapore or Hong Kong are more built up than PJ but they have excellent accompanying infrastructure like public transportation to maximise convenience and increase livability. The problem for PJ is many of our new developments are approved without any consideration given to public transport infrastructure,” said Pua.

Pua echoed Tan’s concerns on traffic studies: “The fact that these studies were conducted by consultants appointed by developers clearly created a conflict of interest.”

“In addition, they are conducted on the basis that all other matters are equal. This is most often not the case. An example is the traffic study for Tropicana City, which was conducted without taking into account traffic created by a shopping centre a stone’s throw away in Section 19. To make matters worse, the plan is for additional traffic to be diverted into the old Jalan Damansara dividing SS20 and Taman Tun (Dr Ismail), which comes under two separate city councils (DBKL and MBPJ). It also does not take into account that construction work has already commenced for a commercial centre on the Taman Tun side,” said Pua.

He said that traffic study consultants should be answerable to the local council instead of to developers, at the cost of the latter.

Pua said the MBPJ has a role to play in ensuring that there is an overall city masterplan with total planning on the environment, traffic and public transportation network,

However, he felt that the council had a big task at hand where they have to deal with fragmented pieces of land which has been sold or alienated to private developers who would have little or no interest in sharing costs with each other to build public infrastructures like roads.

I'm thinking to coming up with a people petition to the state government to implement a freeze on all new (and yet to be approved) high-rise development (anything above 4 stories?) in Petaling Jaya until such a time when:

1. The updated and revised Rancang Tempatan Petaling Jaya (RTPJ) is approved by MBPJ and the state government after all necessary due process such as consultation with the people of Petaling Jaya, and
   
   
2. An efficient public transportation system of high quality and frequency is set up to drastically reduce traffic within the city. While by and large, the state government has only bit roles in setting up public transportation services, it can insist that development project plans will only be approved if public transportation issues have been resolved (e.g., new high density projects can only be approved if there will be buses/trains plying the route etc.)
   

By "freezing" the approval of new development orders, as well as placing strict restrictions on density on those which have unfortunately been approved (but detailed plans yet to be submitted), it will also incentivise the developers to lobby and negotiate with public transport companies such as RapidKL to increase route coverage.

If you stay in Petaling Jaya and are willing to campaign for this movement and promote the petition (e.g., going house-to-house to get signatures for support), and even better, lead the project, please do not hesitate to contact me @ tonypua (at) yahoo (dot) com. I'll then be more than happy to play the role to lobby the state government with your petition.

RM64 Billion Toll Compensation For PLUS

RM63.83 billion.

That's the approximate amount which needs to be paid in terms of compensation PLUS Expressways Bhd between 2008 to 2038 (when the concession ends), should the Government for one reason or other decide to maintain the tariffs at the current rate. That works out to an shocking average of RM2.1 billion a year, and an incredible strain on taxpayers and the Government's finances.

For 2008, the Government has agreed to pay (or have paid) PLUS more than RM731 million in toll compensation (compared to RM698 million in 2007) . With toll rate hikes of 10% scheduled every 3 years, this amount will just keep increasing over the next 30 years.

For example, a Kuala Lumpur - Penang return trip costing RM86.60 today will cost an exhorbitant RM247 by 2038, if the tariff structure is fully complied with. And based on existing compensation terms in the agreement, the Government will have to pay for all loss of revenue from actual traffic volume, which is estimated to increase by 5% annually.

Of course, in between, the Government may just decide to raise the toll rates or alternatively, perpetually extend the toll concession with PLUS. But given the highly charged political scenario where the Barisan Nasional government has little political capital or credibility, the frozen rates may just be extended ad infinitum. Rates will never be raised in the 2 years before general elections, they will also not be raised when there is a change of prime ministers, or even before critical by-elections or for any other reasons.

Of course the compensation figure has yet to take into account the RM112 billion in actual toll which will be collected from the road users over the next 30 years based purely on current toll rates, and an annual 3% increase in traffic volume. The type of returns guaranteed for PLUS, relative to its RM5.9 billion cost of construction is just absolutely mind-boggling. Worse, PLUS isn't even the only highway concession in the country enjoying such lucrative returns (or compensations)!

The BN government has obviously dug a deep deep hole for themselves, and are now stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea, with their past excesses fast catching up on them.

But for PLUS at least, there's an "easy" way out. DAP has proposed that the Government "privatises" PLUS Expressways from Bursa Malaysia with RM13.75 billion which will be more than paid for within 6 years of operations. This means that the Government and hence tax-payers do not have to fork out a single additional cent.

Come on BN, for the sake of the people, let go of your ego and pride and do something right for once! ;-)

Buy Up PLUS: Yes or No?

Frankly speaking, I quite like the new Works Minister, Dato Mohd Zin Mohamed. He's the only Minister I know to date, that actually replies to every small query which was raised within any of my speeches. And when Parliament's not in session, his office will mail the answer(s) to me. I was frankly speaking, impressed. And honestly, I think (for whatever reasons), he does try to improve things within his very very limited means and scope.

But you'll certainly have to help me here with the cryptic answer he gave in a short interview with Malaysiakini after announcing the embarrassing 24-hour U-Turn of the toll rates increase for several highways.

Why can’t the government buy up the highways?

That is the principle of privatisation to nationalisation. We have to look at the financial capabilities of the government, what would be total liability, who are the shareholders. It is not also technical parameters but financial parameters we would have to address.

Are you looking into it?

I’m just defining the parameters we have to address...it is a question if whether we want to stick to privatisation vis-a-vis nationalisation.

What do you think of DAP’s proposal for the government to buy up Plus highway?

Anyone can come up (with such plans). What Tony Pua should do is not look at Plus as a standalone. The whole concession is operating as an integrated entity.

Are you rejecting his proposal?

I didn’t say that.

So what say you? I can assure you that based on the declassified contract agreements, the Government can certainly afford to "expropriate" many of these toll concessionaires.  But  I didn't understand his "operating as an integrated entity" bit, but if it's any consolation, he hasn't yet rejected our very constructive PLUS buy-back proposal ;-)

BN Rubs Salt On Our Wounds

At a time when Malaysians are facing the greatest economic challenge, when 100,000 Malaysians are expected to be out of a job by the end of the year as projected by the Minister of Human Resources, the Barisan Nasional Government has decided to increase toll rates from 5 to 25% for 5 toll concessions, while at the same time still pay compensation amounting to RM277 million to these toll concessionaires! The act is clearly a case of rubbing salt onto the wounds of anxious and suffering Malaysians.

In announcing this, Works Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohammed said the increase was “minimal” and hoped the public understood that the increase was “stipulated in the concession agreements” that the government had signed.

Firstly we will like to reiterate that the increase was by no means minimal. For PLUS itself, even a 5% increase in toll rates will increase toll revenue by as much as RM120 million in 2009. This doesn't yet take into consideration the fact that the Government is likely to have to compensate PLUS for the other 5% which has yet to be increased, which may be an additional RM100 million. It is an insult for to all Malaysians to say that RM220 million to be incurred by road users and tax-payers “minimal”, especially in times of economic hardship, and shortfall in Government revenues.

In fact, we would like to ask the Government if the compensation sums being paid to concessionares are part of the “economic stimulus packages” to help turnaround our economy, badly affected by the global economic crisis.

Secondly, while the toll rate increase is indeed “stipulated in the concession agreements”, there were also other clauses stipulated in the agreements such as the “expropriation” clause which the Government has chosen to blatantly ignore. This selective compliance to the legal agreements smacks of a government favouring the interest of cronies instead of those of the people.

The DAP Ops Restore team has demonstrated using many examples over the past 2 months how expropriating these highways as per the terms “stipulated in the conession agreements” are more economical and cost effective for both the Government and the road users. But the Government continues to turn a blind eye to these constructive proposals.

Just yesterday, the team have outlined a detailed proposal on how the Government can “take back” PLUS Expressways Bhd without costing tax-payers a single cent and without unfairly penalising minority shareholders (they are to be offered 15% premium to the current share price) which will result in a toll-free North South Expressway by 2016.

Why does the Government who owns directly 65% of PLUS Expressway, continue to choose the route of unfairly “taxing” road-users and tax-payers (if compensation is paid) instead of taking appropriate actions to help the people?

It should also be noted that PLUS Expressways is extremely profitable. PLUS made RM1.31 billion in net profits before tax, which translates into an enormous net profit margin of 57.3% in 2007!

The privatisation policies a-la Barisan Nasional have brought an enourmous burden on all Malaysians and have profited only Barisan Nasional crony businessmen. If Prime Minister-elect, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak wants to commence his term on the right note, then we call upon him to take back these highways, and other unfairly privatised projects to relieve the burden of the rakyat, especially in these difficult times.

PLUS Toll Free by 2016?

Well, if Pakatan takes over the Government.

Just as we had a press conference yesterday to provide the Government with a proposal to make PLUS toll free by 2016, in a most timely manner, our Government decides that a toll rate increase for PLUS (and 4 other highways) are most appropriate today.

But before I make my comment on the toll rate increase as announced by the Works Minister today, coming so soon after the celebratory toll booth "demolition" at Sungei Besi Highway and New Pantai Expressway, here's our concrete proposal on how we can have a toll-free PLUS by 2016 without costing the Government a single cent!

The DAP Ops RESTORE Team calls upon both the Works and Finance Ministers to make the entire North-South Highway and its related concessions such as the ELITE, Butterworth-Kulim (BKE) and the Second Link Highways under PLUS Expressways Bhd completely toll free by 2016.

Following our team's consultations to date with our legal experts, investment bankers as well as the general public, we have developed a comprehensive, practicable and creative programme to return the highways to the people in the least possible cost, and shortest possible time without compromising the integrity of the financial markets.

Our proposal will:

• Impose no further increase in North-South Highway toll rates
  
  For example, a return KL-Penang journey will remain at RM86.60 today instead of RM115.30 in 2015 and RM168.80 by 2030.
  
  
• Create RM14 billion savings for Malaysians from 2009-2015
  
  This will be the amount saved either (i) by Malaysians using the highway because of no further toll rate increases or (ii) in terms of compensation which would have to be paid by the Government to PLUS Expressways.
  
  
• Continue to collect toll only until 2015
  
  
• Incur no additional cost for the Malaysian Government or Malaysian tax-payers
  

Background information:

• PLUS is listed on Bursa Malaysia at a price of RM2.88 per share and a market capitalisation of RM14.4 billion (24th February)
  
  
• The Government of Malaysia, via Khazanah owns 65% of PLUS.
  
  
• PLUS has outstanding net debt amounting to RM8.5 billion
  

We call upon the Government to take the following actions:

1. The Government should make a General Offer (GO) to acquire all minority shareholders of PLUS with a generous 15% premium at RM3.30 per share, costing RM5.25 billion thus ensuring that minority shareholders are protected.
   
   
2. The cost of acquisition, added to the RM8.5 billion net debt of PLUS will amount to RM13.75 billion.
   
   
3. This cost will be funded by issuing Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) at 3% interest (or less), costing RM413 million per annum. Total repayment will amount to RM16.2 billion over 6 years.
   
   
4. At the same time, PLUS should generate at least RM20b in net positive cashflow the 6 years to 2015 without further toll rate hikes and a conservative 3% pa traffic growth.
   
   
5. Therefore by 2015, the government can completely repay the MGS and still have RM3.8 billion excess which could be used to build a better public transportation system throughout the country.
   

Not only will the execution of the above proposal bring joy to all Malaysians with a toll-free North South Expressway, the exercise will fit perfectly with the upcoming “mini-Budget” by the Finance Minister:

• RM14 billion saved by Malaysian consumers will reduce the cost of living for the average Malaysian in times of economic difficulties we face today.
  
  
• RM14 billion saved will also redirect expenditure to other more productive sectors of our economy by increasing domestic consumer demand.
  
  
• The reduced toll rates and its subsequent abolition will substantially reduce the cost of doing business in Malaysia, increase logistical efficiencies and ultimately make Malaysian companies more globally competitive.
  
  
• Best of all, the plan will stimulate demand and make available substantial funds for public infrastructure development without the Government having to increase the precarious budget deficit further.
  

Hence, the DAP Ops RESTORE Team would like to reiterate our call to both the Finance and Works Minister to include the above proposal in the proposed mini-budget set to be announced by the Finance Minister on the 10th March for the benefit of the Government and all Malaysians.

Love Affair With Air Asia

There's enough vitriol spewed over the last few weeks in Malaysian politics to make one nauseous. Well, it's a Sunday, so I thought I should have a change in pace and blog about my love affair, well, one with Air Asia. (So don't expect to find me caught on camera a la CSL ;-))

I wrote an article a few weeks back which was published in The NutGraph (which they re-titled "Loving Air Asia")

I have the greatest admiration for Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, and I'm not abashed to loudly proclaim the fact that I'm a fan of Air Asia, and what it has done not only for travel in Malaysia, but for the entire region. A former colleague of mine once told me, if there's anyone who deserved his datukship, its Tony Fernandes.

Air Asia's mantra of “Now Everyone Can Fly” has really taken millions places, many of whom have never flown before. The airline is of course not without criticism, one of the most ticklish was the perversion of its motto to “Now Everyone Can Wait” for the frequency of flight delays, particularly in its early years. I've often been a victim of Air Asia delays myself, but it's a price and risk I'm willing to pay, in exchange for the affordability it affords me in travelling. After all, I've also suffered delays on trips with either the Malaysian Airline System (MAS) or the world renown Singapore Airlines (SIA).

Now, I know there are many out there who have negative sentiments against Air Asia, some of whom are my Pakatan Rakyat fellow Members of Parliament, especially over the recent issue of the still-born Labu "KLIA East" airport. But if you read my story, you'd know that my "love affair" is personal. I further believe that since I don't hold back much when "whacking" things I find distasteful (e.g., Barisan Nasional), I should also do the same for things which I really like, even if its against the grain.  You can read the full story at The NutGraph here.

I do have a part II to the above story, focusing a little more on the KLIA-East but given all the other urgent and critical things happening around us today, you may still have to wait a little before the second part sees the light of day ;-)

I'm also a big big fan of Tony Fernandes as a real entrepreneur, and I'll put him right up there with the best in the region. In fact, anyone with real ambitions to become an entrepreneur in Malaysia (I for one, had only half-ambitions, prefering early retirement ;-)), should emulate his "gung-ho" spirit. Unlike many of our country's pseudo-pretend-entrepreneurs who rely on government concession and oblique guarantees to become multi-millionaires, Tony made it big with no government guaranteed passenger traffic, protected air routes, monopoly license or government underwritten loans.

His "politics" could of course do with some improvements (speaking at Shahrizat's campaign trail(?!) Faint!) but everyone makes an honest mistake now and then ;-) After all, I was sympathetic to Pak Lah at the start of his reign, and Jeff Ooi, my fellow compatriot today, even campaigned in 2004 for BN!

For everyone's information, I don't own any shares in Air Asia although I watch over its performance. I have Tony Fernandes' handphone number, but we're not drinking buddies. I don't fly free on Air Asia although they sponsored a ticket each to Macau and Bali for my Charity Golf Tournament in October last year (Tony, I'm sure you can do better than that!!) And Tony is certainly no crony of Tony's for there's nothing I can offer except to buy air tickets at bargain basement prices. ;-)

Promised LRT Extensions Delayed

Charts courtesy of The Malay Mail

Another broken promise by the Barisan Nasional government. Only Malay Mail published the story on the delay to the promised extension to the Kelana Jaya LRT line to Subang Jaya.

The trains Klang Valley commuters have been waiting for to alleviate their misery will be delayed — yet again.

Word from transport industry sources is that planned additional lines and stations for the light rail train (LRT) network is now projected to be ready only in 2013 — three years later than originally planned.

To our Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, how come no announcement? What has happened to all which have been promised in the Budget 2009 for public transportation? What happened to the RM35 billion public transportation fund, and the Public Transport Commission promised by the Prime Minister himself?

Below is a letter from Moaz Ahmad from the Association For The Improvement Of Mass Transit’ (TRANSIT) on the issue.

LRT delay to 2013 (at least) is not a surprise

The quiet announcement of the delay of the opening of the LRT extension to at least 2013 probably did not come as a surprise to many Malaysians. After all, the LRT extensions have been promised, promised, and promised again. Malaysians keep on believing these promises hoping that things are going to happen because of the confident announcements coming from the cabinet and the Prime Minister's office.

One has to wonder if the recent switch of the Defense and Finance portfolios may have something to do with the delays. When Dato' Seri Abdullah became Prime Minister he reviewed many of the projects initiated by Tun Dr. Mahathir and shelved some of them (such as the double tracking and electrification). Would it be much of a surprise if Dato Seri Najib want to do a similar review?

There are also many mixed messages and "behind-the-scenes" events that make it clear that Prasarana, the National Infrastructure Company, will not be able to complete the LRT until 2013 (if not later). Prasarana's former CEO, Shaipudin Shah Hasan, resigned suddenly on September 19, 2008 - the day after attending the National Summit on Urban Public Transport and talking about plans for the extensions of the LRT. The Finance Ministry has announced that there is a plan to integrate Prasarana and RapidKL into a single company - but the Land Public Transport Commission may change things even more after it is created. On the ground, it has been reported that contractors are conducting soil tests in Subang Jaya - but Prasarana has not appointed a primary contractor or finalized their proposal for the LRT extensions.

Even more interesting are these points. It is almost funny to hear that Prasarana is unsure that it can secure the RM5billion in funding for the LRT extension. Remember that Prasarana is owned 100% by the Finance Ministry. How can it be that a company owned by the Treasury of Malaysia cannot secure RM5 billion in funding for an LRT project?

Also, if the government is planning on the extension, why is a contractor engaged by Prasarana asking to arrange a meeting with residents of Subang Jaya and USJ to share ideas for an integrated public transport network? Do they have a plan or not? And if they have a plan, why is it not public and open for discussion?

Prasarana once conducted a survey of households in the Klang Valley to determine their preferred uses and modes of transportation but they have not made the results of this survey public or engaged in any public discussion about the way people use public transport and other modes. They have not prepared or explored any alternatives beyond LRT extensions to show that the benefits of the proposed LRT extensions will justify the massive costs of construction.

They have provided no clear information to show that the proposed extensions are absolutely vital to suburban communities like Subang Jaya and USJ and Putra Heights. They have not examined any other corridors though it is known that urban Kuala Lumpur is in desperate need for at least 5 more lines.

Finally, they did not even have the courtesy to send a representative to a dialogue initiated by the ADUN of Subang Jaya last year.

This dismal "track record" (pardon the pun) makes it clear that there is a long way to go to improve public transport in Malaysia. It also makes it clear that the public should not easily accept and not question plans or promises from the government. If we really want to see improvements to public transport then we must have open public discussion, public consultation ... and active public participation.

Sincerely

Moaz Yusuf Ahmad
klangvalley.transit (at) gmail (dot) com
http://transitmy.org

I'll make the call again. If the Federal Government is unable to sort out our public transportation system throughout the country, for goodness sake, delegate the responsibilities to the respective state and local governments.

Taman Medan Toll Plaza Abolished

First of all, we will like to express our sincere thanks to the Works Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Zin Mohamed for giving Malaysians a Valentine's Day present by abolishing the Kuala Lumpur-bound toll plaza at PJS2 on the New Pantai Expressway (NPE) with immediate effect.

The Minister said removing the toll was also meant to soften the effects of economic uncertainties for the residents of PJS 1 and 2.

However, before Malaysian's decide to pop the champagne bottle for the celebratory dinner marking the possible start to a review of all other toll plazas and toll rates across the country, we will like to call upon the Minister to disclose the compensation paid to the concessionaire for the abolition.

As reported vaguely in The Star today, analysts have disclosed that the concessionaire will be compensated.

In addition, the Minister must disclose the yearly compensation involved relative to the toll revenue collected by the concessionaire annually since 2004.

If the compensation approximates or exceeds the value of the toll revenue collected by the concessionaire, then this Valentine's Day present is not a real present, but is paid for by the rakyat themselves. If such is the case, then it will demonstrate the lack of sincerity of the Barisan Nasional government in restructuring the unfair toll concessions in Malaysia.

If however, there is no compensation paid, or the amount is small, the full credit must be given to the Minister for finally listening to the grievances of the people and we'd provide full support to the Minister to do the same for all other toll roads in Malaysia, particularly those which continue to provide poor service and causes traffic congestion to road users while making extraordinary profits.