GEORGE TOWN: Toll payment will go cashless at five toll plazas in Penang and Kedah from Sept 9.

A PLUS Malaysia Bhd official confirmed that a message that has been circulating over Whatsapp that only Touch N Go cards and SmartTag devices could be used at the toll plazas at Bukit Kayu Hitam and Jitra at the North-South Expressway, Kubang Semang and Lunas at the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway, and the Penang Bridge.

He said the Association of Highway Concessionaires Malaysia would issue an official statement on the matter. The message was attributed to PLUS.

A motorist said Thais coming into Malaysia without the devices might have problems ­making payments at the Bukit Kayu Hitam toll plaza.

In a related development, Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said there will be no toll rate increase for now.

He said concessionaires were ­citing higher operating costs as the rationale for asking for an increase.

“The Cabinet is mulling the request from all angles.

“If we don’t increase rates based on the concessionaires’ agreements this year, the Government will have to pay them RM580mil in compensation.

“And by next year, this amount can be RM1.6bil,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Fadillah said this sum could otherwise be used to build roads, schools and hospitals.

Negotiations, Fadillah added, were still going on between the Government and the 30 concessionaires.

Noting that concessionaires were entitled to raise toll as stipulated in their contracts, Fadillah said the Government had not increased the rates since 2008.

“The public also has to bear in mind that highway construction is highly dependent on stakeholders, which include foreign investors and banks."