Concessions or Daylight Robbery?

You can read about the ongoing saga about the Cheras toll in this malaysiakini article.

The basic question for the Cheras toll is whether the company has the right to block off an existing access road to force residents of a housing area to detour through a toll system. If you are a fair person, it seems unjust that the state government would have allowed such a thing happening.

There is even a more questionable concession that has been highlighted in the NST today.

"SELANGOR ASSEMBLY: Water tariffs in Klang Valley to go up by 37pc"

That has been approved for 1st Jan 2009.
One wonders how the authorities allowed such an agreement to be approved and it follows the highway toll agreements with rate increases every 3 years.

I suggest such major concessions should only be awarded with the following clauses:
1.The government holds a golden share that allows it to buy back the concession based on the tangible assets of the company.
2.The government is entitled to the super-profits of the company that is deemed to be any profits that is more than 20% margin on revenue.
3.The majority stake of the company must be at least owned by the general public and no group must hold more than 20% stake.
4.For water companies, NRW above 10%(non-revenue water or losses) will not be allowed as a deductible expense.

Now does anyone want to create a concession to charge for the air we breathe?