Govt's 'not for sale' decision on PLUS huge relief for EPF members

KUALA LUMPUR: The government's decision not to sell off its stake in the North-South Expressway (PLUS) has come as a huge relief, particularly to the millions of members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
Reactions to such keenly-awaited news were perhaps best summed up by the Member of Parliament for Sekijang, Anuar Abdul Manap, when he said: "I can almost hear the 14.5 million EPF members heaving a sigh of relief that EPF investment in PLUS will remain intact."
"The government is right in retaining the ownership of PLUS highways simply because it is a strategic national asset and steady dividends from the highways' operations flow down to EPF members," he told Bernama.
PLUS is owned 49% and 51% respectively by government-linked entities UEM Group and EPF.
Toll operator MAJU Holdings Sdn Bhd kicked up considerable excitement in the local market last month, when it announced a RM36 billion bid to take over PLUS, which operates the 772km tolled highways spanning across Peninsular Malaysia.
MAJU Holdings sweetened the deal with a tempting offer of a "no toll hike" for the next 20 years, until the end of the concession agreement in 2038.
But in Parliament last week, the Minister of Finance in a written reply said the government had no plans to let go its stake to MAJU Holdings, which is owned by its executive chairman Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed, and which operates the 29km MEX Highway linking Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
The government's firm stand shows that it's not convinced about the takeover bid, which it says has to be supported by "clear and strong" sources of financing.
Yet another factor to be considered is the new operator's ability to manage PLUS given its position as the backbone of the nation's highway system and as a strategic national asset.
It says that this is vital to ensure that the government won't have to bail out PLUS in the event of economic shocks and uncertainties in the foreign exchage market.
"The government takes a serious view of the financial standing of private entities such as MAJU Holdings in financing this corporate exercise," Parliament was told.
This clear-cut political will of the government is clearly a game-changer in itself given some bitter lessons learnt from the past, especially the privatisation of steel maker Perwaja and Malaysia Airlines over 20 years ago.
In both cases, the government had to inject massive funds on several occasions to bail them out from insolvency. Several economists have also expressed strong reservations about the "no-toll hike" carrot being dangled with the takeover bid.
Prof Tan Sri Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali, Vice Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said the bad experiences of the past when the government decided to part with strategic national assets should not be repeated.
He believes that as the nation's communications backbone, with a crucial and much larger economic role, PLUS should remain in government hands and not be subject to any takeover by a third party.
MP Anuar also alluded to the government's move announced in the 2018 Budget last week for the abolition of tolls at four highways, three of which belong to PLUS.
"This is a very bold move by the Prime Minister. This is made possible because PLUS belongs to the government via Khazanah and EPF.
"In fact, even the compensation to be paid out for the abolition of tolls at these three highways will be ploughed back to the 14.5 million EPF members by way of dividend," he said. — Bernama