KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — The government is ready to consider establishing a tribunal to help resolve disputes between e-hailing companies and their drivers, should the need arises in the future.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said at the moment, all the disputes between the two parties were being addressed by the Complaint Management Department (CMD) under the Land Public Transport Commission.

"SPAD has no plans yet to establish a tribunal...this is because there is a division in SPAD known as the CMD which is responsible to handle complaints and any related issues (disputes).

"All the complaints lodged will be resolved by case basis,” she said in reply to a question from Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai) on the establishment of the tribunal.

Meanwhile, replying to a supplementary question from Izzah on the government’s move to prevent a monopoly following the merger of Grab-Uber in Southeast Asia, Nancy reassured that the exercise would not affect the fares.

"Through a meeting with Grab on March 26, I have emphasised that the government would take legal action under the Competition Act 2010 in the event of a monopolistic practice in terms of fare rate,” she said.

In the meantime, Nancy said a total of 2,493 taxi drivers had obtained individual licences since the inception of the Taxi Industry Transformation Programme in 2016.

She said of the total, 638 taxi drivers had received RM5,000 cash grants to buy new vehicles, as at March 20. — Bernama