Congestion charge plan for Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur set to pit drivers against city hall

Drivers already battling the daily jam of Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur have trained their sights on the city’s administrators, as tempers fray over a plan to levy congestion charges to cut down on the millions of vehicles clogging the roads and causing billions of ringgit in lost productivity.

Malaysia’s government last week floated a plan to impose charges to enter Kuala Lumpur and two other cities in the peninsula to dissuade the public from driving.

Kuala Lumpur lost an estimated 20 billion ringgit (US$4.5 billion) due to 250 million hours lost in traffic in 2020 alone, according to a study by public transport management firm Prasarana Malaysia that was cited by the government.

While no hard figures for the charge – or how it will be levied – have been released, critics say any charge will punish businesses reliant on the roads.

Sales campaign executive James Wong said he was constantly on the road to check on kiosks set up by his company in and around the city, which meant he could end up paying the charges several times a day depending on where he needed to go.

“I can claim [costs] from my company at the end of the month, but it means I have to spend less on myself to make sure I have enough money to pay upfront,” Wong said.