PUTRAJAYA (Aug 17): The Ministry of Transport announced today that all outstanding automated enforcement system (AES) summons worth over RM435 million will be waived and the government, via the Road Transport Department (JPJ), will take over the management and operation of the system starting Sept 1.

In a press briefing today, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said since the commencement of the AES in 2012 until May this year, 3.76 million AES summonses have been issued. Of that, only 659,934 summonses or less than 20% have been paid.

“I would like to apologise to those who have paid their AES summonses. I understand that this seems unfair, but the Government cannot afford to refund the payments to them,” he said.

The concession agreement between the government and the two companies that operate the AES — ATES Sdn Bhd and Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd — will end on Aug 31, 2018. Loke said the government has decided to take over the system as the deal appears to be lopsided.

“In the agreement, RM16 are paid to the two companies for every AES summons issued. Furthermore, 50% of the summons payments is given to them as well,” he said. According to the ministry, AES summonses were initially set at RM300 per summon, which was later halved to RM150 by the Cabinet in November 2016. This halved sum then goes entirely to the concession operators.

As such, as per the concession agreement, even if the outstanding summonses were to be collected, the collection would not be considered government revenue, but would go to the two companies," he added.

Hence, starting from September 1, Loke said the government, through JPJ, will take over the AES and strictly enforce and fully implement all the legal provisions on summonses issued under the AES.

“I would like to highlight here that this exemption [on the outstanding summonses] is once and for all. There will be no more discounts to be announced under our administration for the next five years,” he stressed.  

Loke also revealed that, under the previous government, the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT), through its subsidiary Irat Properties Sdn Bhd, were instructed to pay RM555 million to the two companies — with assets of only 40 cameras — to take over the management and operation of AES in 2015.

“In the spirit of sympathy and after taking into account the welfare and the interests of the Armed Forces, the government has decided to refund the RM555 million to LTAT in phases,” he announced.

“We will sit down with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Defence, together with LTAT, to discuss how the amount can be repaid to LTAT on a staggered basis,” he added.

By taking over the concession agreement, Loke added that the Government will no longer be bound by the agreement to install more than 1,000 AES cameras nationwide.

“We will discuss and study together with MIROS (Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research) the suitable places which are accident-prone to install the AES,” he said.

“The purpose of the AES is good, which is to reduce speeding on the road. We will continue the system but with a different model of implementation,” Loke added.