Congestion charges for private vehicles from 2017?

KUALA LUMPUR: Soon it won’t be any easy for people to drive own cars into the city centre as City Hall (DBKL) is looking to impose road pricing or congestion charges for private vehicles in 2017.

Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Mhd Amin Nordin Abdul Aziz said they aimed to implement the congestion charges in the central business district of KL after the government enhances the public transportation system in the city.

“Maybe after the completion of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT Line 1),” he said, after attending the opening of 7th World Class Sustainable Cities Conference here this afternoon.
Taking cue of the policy from world class cities such as London, Seoul, Singapore, Rome and Stockholm, Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk Dr Loga Bala Mohan said the congestion charges were part of the government’s plan to reduce road traffic and encourage city folks to use public transport.

“The government will also impose plans to make it difficult for private vehicles to enter the city. This includes higher development costs for developers or building owners to build car parks which will contribute to high parking charges,” he said.

Dr Loga pointed out such measures would be executed in stages after the authorities ensure that it is convenient for people to move around the city without driving own cars.

“When we finalise the study, we will provide lesser parking bays to make more people use public transport after the government put in rail lines such as MRT, LRT and also other public transport services in a big way,” he added.

A DBKL official who wished to remain anonymous told theSun the Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) in road tax that would be introduced nationwide by Road Transport Department (JPJ) soon, will hold the key towards electronic road pricing (ERP) in the capital city.
“It will be just like the Singapore’s ERP, road pricing scheme in Seoul and congestion charges for specific zones in London during peak hours. With RFID, it will also help the authorities to enforce penalties and provide exemption to public transport vehicles and cars driven by disabled people,” she said.

On August 25, theSun had reported that by 2018, Transport Ministry will introduce the RFID ‘smart code’ tag to be embedded into a road tax sticker, which will also assist Works Ministry and Malaysian Highway Authority's (LLM) plan to commence cashless payment without the presence of toll plazas.