This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 14, 2018 - May 20, 2018

THE Pakatan Harapan government has promised to review all highway concessions as it believes that roads and highways are the responsibility of the government for the people.

The coalition said in its manifesto that it intends to renegotiate the present concessions so that it can take them over and eventually abolish the tolls. It said it would compensate the companies affected by the termination in a fair manner.

This can be done as there are exit clauses in highway concessions, which means the government can end the agreement once the concessionaires achieve their internal rate of return.

This is definitely good news for the man in the street, especially those living in the Klang Valley who have to pay several tolls in their daily commute.

However, it may be a difficult task for the new government. Indeed, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had once said that it is no easy feat to abolish tolls.

Apart from compensation, if tolls are abolished and the government assumes responsibility for the highways, this would mean that it will have to fork out the money for their upkeep.

Former deputy works minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin had said there were 31 toll roads in the country as at end-2017 and the annual cost to operate and maintain them varied from RM6.82 million to RM1.5 billion.

While it is possible that the cost to maintain the highways can be reduced, will abolishing tolls come at the expense of the people who would have to bear the cost in other forms?

Also worth considering are the implications of toll abolition for the construction of new highways. Without concessionaires, how will these be financed?

These questions need to be addressed as soon as possible.

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