Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 15): Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the review of the airport tax will take effect as this is stated in the agreement signed between the government and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).

Liow said according to the timeline of the agreement with MAHB, airport tax would be reviewed every three years.

Asked on whether the airport tax would be increased, Liow replied, "It will take effect, because it is already in the agreement, so [there's] actually no need for us to make [an] announcement.

"Unless the government would like to stop the agreement, or to review the agreement, but as long as it is in the agreement, we can't reverse the decision."

However, he did not elaborate further.

Liow's three-year cycle contradicts MAHB's five-year cycle.

On Dec 1, MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said the passenger service charge, generally dubbed as airport tax, has reached its five-year cycle in next month and any decision on the review of fees would depend on the government.

Currently, the airport tax for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is RM65 for international passengers and RM9 for domestic passengers, while for klia2 it is RM32 for international passengers and RM6 for domestic passengers.

The news came at the same time Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd announced that its fare from KL Sentral to KLIA/klia2 will increase to RM55 from RM35, effective Jan 1, 2016.

The revision was approved by the government through Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD).

This came after the recent announcement about toll rate hikes of 12 highways in Klang Valley ranging from between 10 sen and RM6 since Oct 15.

Asked on the possible toll rate hikes by Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama Bhd (PLUS) on the highways, Liow said he did not have information on this.

However, he defended the recent toll rate hike in Klang Valley saying that the rate hike was bound by a concession agreement signed previously.

"If the government does not allow the toll rate to be increased, the government would have to pay the concession company.

"What we can do is to make sure the new concession agreement to be signed in the future does not have clauses that bind the government to increase the toll rate periodically and we had to pay the concession," Liow said.

It was reported that Putrajaya has said that PLUS was entitled to increase toll rates on highways under its concession by 5% every three years from next year. The hike will last until its concession period ends in 2038.

Meanwhile on the audit report on the klia2 safety, Liow said the report was out and he would present the report to the Cabinet.

"Yes, the klia2 report is out, and I will present it to the cabinet. And later on, I will announce to the public the gist of the report," he said.

Liow had previously told the Parliament that the audit report on klia2 by the Panel on Safety and a special task force would be completed by the end of October.

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