KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — A total of RM4.8 billion was collected in toll payments last year, with the PLUS North-South Expressway (NSE) raking in about RM2.5 billion, the Works Ministry revealed today.

In a written reply to Seremban MP Anthony Loke in Parliament today, the Works Ministry said that RM285 million and RM276 million in toll were collected from the North-South Expressway Central Link (ELITE) and the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP) respectively in 2012.

"However, for your information, the toll collections will be used by the relevant concessionnaires to repay the commercial loans to lenders and banks, as well as to finance the cost of the capital, the cost of operations and road works," the Works Ministry said in the written reply.

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) had pledged before the May 5 polls to get rid of tolls, claiming that Malaysia's many long-term highway concession agreements benefit alleged Barisan Nasional (BN) "cronies".

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng pointed out last March that PLUS had already quadrupled its profit for the NSE to RM24.3 billion by 2010 after spending RM6 billion to build the 772-km highway in the peninsula.

He noted that PLUS would only stop collecting toll once the concession agreement expired in 2038.

The Works Ministry also revealed today that RM241 million and RM180 million in toll were collected from the Kesas Highway in Shah Alam and the Penang bridge respectively in 2012.

About RM112 million in toll was collected from the Sprint Highway in the Klang Valley last year.