Government has no plans to sell PLUS

By Lee Wei Lian - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — The government has no plans to sell PLUS Expressways, the nation’s largest toll concession.

Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said today the government has no plans to sell tolled roads.

He, however, declined to confirm or deny news reports that a private company, Asas Serba, was scheduled to brief the prime minister on a RM50 billion takeover of PLUS and other toll highways and also declined to confirm or deny whether the government had received a proposal.

"The government has no plans to sell the tolled roads. If anyone has plans to buy, good luck, but we have no plans to sell," he told reporters at a press conference at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum. "Even if we've received a proposal or not, it is academic as we have no plans to sell."

PLUS is controlled by the government via its investment arm Khazanah, through its wholly-owned United Engineers Malaysia which in turn has a 64 per cent stake in the highway concessionaire.

It was reported in August that a proposal was submitted by a group of businessmen to take over PLUS but Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak denied a potential sale in the same month, citing the importance of the over RM1 billion in profit that the expressway generates each year.

But a news report emerged last week that a company, Asas Serba, had been cleared to meet the prime minister to discuss a proposed takeover of the nation's 22 toll expressways which would provide the government with cash and result in lower toll charges of up to 20 per cent.