KUALA LUMPUR: Soon drivers can use credit cards and debit cards to pay for highway tolls on five roads, says Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.
Four of them - the Sungai Besi Expressway, the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway, the New Pantai Expressway, and the Guthrie Corridor Expressway - were in the Klang Valley, while the fifth is the Penang Bridge.
Nanta said the five roads would implement the open payment system by September.
If it proves successful, more highways could switch to the open payment system.
Nanta said the system would be assessed in October before it could be implemented on all highways nationwide.
"From the beginning of this year, we have been talking with the highway concessionaires on the steps towards the implementation of an open payment system," he said in a Facebook posting.
"The implementation of this system is among the early initiatives for a switch to the Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF), which is underway," he said, adding that it would take several months to integrate the open payment system.
"The MLFF implementation will be done in phases, by the third quarter of 2024," he said.
Nanta said the implementation of the MLFF would enable an open payment system to be carried out for toll collection on all highways.
"This will open up more opportunities for eWallet providers and end the monopoly of Touch 'n Go.
"It will also create healthy competition among industry players and open up more choices for highway users in terms of toll payment methods," he said.
The introduction of the Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) will give users more options for paying tolls and should help ease traffic bottlenecks, especially at toll plazas.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had said recently that the monopoly of Touch 'n Go in the payment system for tolls and public transportation would be reviewed, to stimulate competition in the market.
On Monday, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the ministry had instructed all agencies including public transport operators under the ministry's purview to create an open payment system application.
