Malaysia Politic(1): PLUS Highway

Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia

The Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) or Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) is a government agency under the Malaysian Ministry of Works (MOW). The agency was founded in 24 October 1980 to build the North-South Expressway, but now the main function of Malaysian Highway Authority is to monitor the works and administration of expressways in Malaysia as subject to Federal Roads Act (Private Managements) 1984.

Is This Department Useful? Does This Department Benefit Us?

Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan

The North-South Expressway (NSE) (Malay: Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan) is the longest expressway in Malaysia with the total length of 966 km (600 miles) running from Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah near the Malaysian-Thai border (connects with Phetkasem Road (Route 4) in Thailand) to Johor Bahru at the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia and to Singapore. The expressway links many major cities and towns in western Peninsular Malaysia, acting as the 'backbone' of the west coast of the peninsula. It is also known as PLUS Expressway, named after the highway's concessionaire, Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan Berhad (North South Expressway Project; abbreviated as PLUS).

Toll Charge Rate = 

~RM 0.15 per/kilometer approximate~

We Paid Road Tax For What?

Normal Rates:

RM 108.80

Off Peak Rates:
RM 98.00

Off Peak Festive Rates:

RM 88.30

Total Distance:

KM 734 J

Johor Bahru To Alor Setar Selatan *Class 1*

I would like to start a discussion here regarding bad malaysian road quality.

I traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, China. I always spend my time observing the quality of the road, and belows are my conclusions:

1. They built solid, and I didn't notice sinkink or falling parts due to heavy trucks.

2. The roads are flat, comfortable, and won't contain pool of water after rain.
3. Zero potholes, not like here in Malaysia.
4. Pedestrian friendly, you got your own walking path, in Malaysia we have to share with cars travelling on the same road.
5. The joint part between bridge and road is perfectly done, In Malaysia I notice a lot of flaws like uneven or sinking joint.

It makes me wonder why we can't built a simple good road? Note that the construction cost of road is not cheap here in Malaysia (I wonder how much it reach in the end of contractor), but the built roads are so fragile that reminds me of built quality of Proton cars, I am not sure is
it caused by the material we use, or the poor technology, or corruptions.

Especially the Malaysia North-South Highway, we paid for the toll fee but still congested, and the quality of road is directly threaten our live.  

Paid For Expensive Highway Toll Fee, For What?

Is It Pay For The Short Cut For Us To Heaven?

Or Pay For The Corrupt Fund To Government?

Source from: http://skandal.blogspot.com/

All you frequent users of the North-South Expressway be more cautious when driving on the third lane.

This is true! I have another friend who works as pavement contractor and he shared the same thought! 

North-south highway 3rd lanes

I am a frequent user of our North-South Expressway and I have this IMPORTANT experience to highlight and share:-

I am a building contractor based in Penang with over twenty years of experience and I have been driving my 5 series BMW (latest generation and a dammed solid road-holding car) each time I travelled to KL. Lately, the new extended 3 lanes highway had been opened up for use and since then, I have also been using it quite often.

HOWEVER, when I used it each time it is WET, I can really 'feel' that the new road surface is extremely SLIPPERY! To share with some of you, my car comes with a built-in traction control mechanism ( skidding prevention mechanism ) and you can feel it each time it is activated. Previously, I don't come across this kind of slippery feel except when I drive over a paddle of water at certain speed. From my observation as a building contractor, the 'wearing course' of the new road surface could be TOO FINE OR TOO SMOOTH and TOTALLY UNSUITABLE for highway use!

The wearing course ( top premix layer ) mix design for highways should be of minimum 20mm coarse aggregate mix that will give us the required bond between the surface and our tyres. Fine wearing course ( 14mm coarse aggregate size and below ) is only suitable for normal road. ( A proper test need to be carried out to determine the mix design of the wearing course). Technically, this comment on the size of the coarse aggregate (or "stone" in lay language) for the wearing course (top most layer of the road) is correct in that it should not be too fine for better grip between the tyre and the road surface.

Since the opening of the three lanes highway, I had seen cars skidding in front me or in the opposite direction and approximately 2 weeks ago, one of my friends who is also a frequent user of our NSE, came to share with me about his slippery feeling as well as the many skidded cars he had seen lately.

I am highlighting this to TV3 and The Star with the hope that a thorough investigation could be carried out immediately to find out how or what causes the bus to skid. A proper and independent test need to be carried out urgently to determine the design mix of the wearing course. THIS CAN SAVE LIVES.

IF YOU ARE USING THE NEW LANES AND IF IT IS WET, MAKE SURE YOU DRIVE SLOWLY!!!!

The government is studying the DAP proposal that the government buy back the North-South Expressway to end toll collection completely in six years. In reply to my query during the winding up of the committee stage debate for the RM60 billion mini-budget, the Second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamad Yakcop said the government is

studying the DAP proposal to return the expressway to the people. The proposal, a comprehensive, practicable and creative one formulated by the DAP Ops RESTORE (Restructure Toll Rates & Equity) Team, after consultations with legal experts, investment bankers as well as the general public, has the following features:

1) Impose no further increase in North-South Expressway toll rates.

2) End toll collection after 2015 instead of 2020.

3) Create RM14 billion savings for Malaysians from 2009-2015 - 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.

4) Incur no additional cost for the Malaysian Government or Malaysian tax-payers

The North-South Expressway ‘buy-back” scheme, worked out by the DAP RESTORE Team,

helmed by The Chi Chang, economic adviser to DAP Secretary-General and Tony Pua, DAP MP for Petaling Jaya Utara last month, was based on the following mechanics:

1) PLUS is listed on Bursa Malaysia at a price of RM2.88 per share and a market capitalization of RM14.4 billion (24th February).

2) The Government of Malaysia, via Khazanah owns 65% of PLUS.

3) PLUS has outstanding net debt amounting to RM8.5 billion.

The buy-back scheme calls on 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 assuming 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 also have the following effects:

• 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. 

To another query, Nor Yakcop said the government welcomes public input to the government's study on the viability of the proposal for government buyback of the North-South Expressway to relieve the toll burden of the government and the Malaysian public.

Source From: TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

~Never Trust BARISAN NASIONAL~

~They Said, Is Because Of The Sure Win In Next Election~