Private sector's offer for PLUS still not attractive, Dr M says

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22): Although the government prefers to stay out of business and is willing to divest its stake in PLUS Highway, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the offers by the private sector so far are not attractive enough.

Mahathir told reporters at the Parliament lobby today that the offers to acquire PLUS so far do not reflect the future prospect of the highway.

"Normally, the government doesn't like to be involved in business, it is better for the private sector to be in the business. We hope they make profit, and we get 24% out of their profit, without any investment or risk.

"But sometimes the offers from the private sector are not attractive, does not reflect the bright prospective of PLUS, so we are still studying many proposals, we can study, whether it is owned by the government or the private sector, we will choose," he said.

"It is a possibility (for it to be sold to private company), yes. There are four (offers) or more, I don't know, maybe more than that, but there are proposals, but we haven't see any proposals that (are) attractive," he added.

Click here for more property stories.