The offer from Berjaya is reportedly more of what the highway concessionaires want over YTL’s bid.
The ongoing barrier-free toll saga in Malaysia appears to have taken yet another twist in the story, as the Berjaya Group has reportedly been seeking support from highway concessionaires on a competing bid against YTL for this rather lucrative contract.
In a story first broken by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), it is reported that senior Berjaya executives have already held individual meetings with representatives of the 32 concessionaires to explain what they have in mind, and to get feedback before submitting its final proposal to the works ministry. If FMT’s source for this scoop is taken at their word too, it might seem that Berjaya may be ekeing out an edge against YTL on its bid, for the simple reason that the offer from the former is reportedly more palatable to the highway concessionaires compared to the earlier proposal by the latter.
More specifically, the source had stated for Berjaya’s bid is basically to be what the highway concessionaires desire, in which the “highway companies construct the multi-lane free-flow toll booths while Berjaya or another company provides toll collection services”. “Under this plan, the concessionaires will get their revenue the next day, as is being practised now,” the source stated.
The source then went on to provided insight into what the concessionaires have also been proposing, with the main demand from them is for the company providing the toll collection service will take care of revenue leaks that arise when toll booth barriers are removed as well. “We don’t want to be bogged down with tracking down the motorists who drive through without paying,” the source added.
Furthermore, the concessionaires also reportedly only wanted for this barrier-free system to be implemented at major toll plazas in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor, where traffic congestion is worse. With this kind of arrangement, the source reportedly claims for the cost of implementing this project will be cut by 30%.
It is nevertheless worth highlighting here that the report has not confirmed whether Berjaya has actually agreed to all the demands proposed by the highway concessionaires in its bid. Moreover, the Malaysian conglomerate has not even officially confirmed that it is throwing its hat into this ring in the first place.
The Berjaya Group’s bid for this project however will not be unsurprising, as the aforementioned 32 highway toll concessionaires were likely out hunting for an alternative after all 32 of them (as part of the Association of Highway Concessionaires Malaysia) slammed a move by the government that appointed a unit of YTL Holdings (KJS-SEP Synergy) as the sole contract holder to produce the barrier-free system back in December.
The objection from highway concessionaires to the government’s plan from stems from issues of cost and over contracts. They further contended that YTL’s proposed plan would allow the new company to take over the concessionnaires’ toll operations and validation process, which would give rise to “potential integrity issues” regarding traffic and toll revenue. Under that particular agreement, the company also would stand to collect RM 650 million to RM 850 million annually from the concessionaires over a 20-year period.
Following the association’s objection, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim assured the highway companies that the government had not made a final decision on the matter.
