PETALING JAYA, June 13 — The Malaysia Tipper Lorry Operators Association has urged the government to consider the eligibility of the service for subsidised diesel or risk the industry increasing its fees by 30 per cent.

Its chairman, Datuk Michael Loo Leep Chye, said that housing prices might also be affected and increase, as tipper lorry services are essential for transporting building raw materials.

"It is quite difficult for them to accept this suddenly, as the tipper lorry industry works closely with the construction field.

"Therefore, the cost of construction will indirectly face a sudden increase, as you have to use tipper lorries to ferry building raw materials such as stone, sand, and cement,” he said during a press conference today.

Tipper lorries are used to transport raw construction materials such as sand, cement, and other materials.

With the increased cost of raw material transport services, he added that this would also affect housing prices, leading to higher house sale prices, which will be borne by Malaysians.

He also said that the incomes of tipper lorry drivers would be at stake if they are not allowed to increase their fees.

Currently, the group consists of 5,500 members in the association, and they have an average of 10 lorry drivers each in peninsular Malaysia.

Additionally, he said that the cost of diesel fuel had increased by 55 per cent following the withdrawal of subsidies by the government.

Recently, the government announced that the price of diesel at all retail stations in peninsular Malaysia is set at RM3.35 per litre starting from midnight on Monday.