PUTRAJAYA: All summonses issued under the Automated Enforcement System (AES) since 2012 have been cancelled, said Transport Minister, Anthony Loke Siew Fook yesterday. He said this involved 3.1 million summonses with a total value of about RM435 million.
“The government has also agreed not to renew the contract of the companies operating the AES which expires at the end of this month,” he said in a press conference here, adding that the Road Transport Department (RTD) will take over the full AES operations from Sept 1.
Loke said the cancellation was a one-off exercise and the PH government would not give any other discount for AES summonses. He said of the total number of summonses issued, only 18 per cent of offenders had paid up, with a total collection of not more than RM700, 000. On the possibility that the RTD’s operational costs would escalate following this takeover, Loke said this could not be avoided.
“But we have to remember that, after this, all summons payments will go into the government’s account compared to previously when the concessionaire was operating it,” he said. Loke said the ministry will discuss with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) to identify the locations which have been classified as accident areas and put under camera surveillance. “We have also not determined the number of AES cameras which will be installed, whether 1,000 as set by the previous operators or less than that,” he said.
Loke said the government also agreed to refund the RM555 million taken from the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) which was used by the previous government to take over the AES system from the two concessionaires. He said the ministry will discuss with the Finance Ministry and Defence Ministry to work out the mode of payment to repay the fund used by Barisan Nasional (BN) which was clearly a loss to LTAT.
He said in 2015, the BN instructed LTAT to use its funds to pay RM555 million to Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd and ATES Sdn Bhd to take over the AES.
“The RM295 million paid to ATES Sdn Bhd and RM260 million to Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd do not involve taking over a large number of assets, only 40 AES cameras,” he said. Meanwhile, Loke said, the government also agreed to postpone the eCall System which in September last year the BN government made mandatory for all new vehicles.
He said this decision was made after he tabled a paper to the Cabinet members today following his meeting with representatives of the industry and the Malaysian Automative Association which had been against it.
“The government is worried that if it is implemented, the cost of installing the eCall will be passed on to the consumer while the producer will increase the price of vehicles as the industry is not ready to make the system a success,” he said.
Loke added that after taking into consideration the feedback from the industry and the association, the government decided to postpone installing the system until a date which will be determined later. Under the eCall system which was to have been fixed on new vehicles, motorists involved in serious accidents could send an emergency signal and get help. — BERNAMA
