PLUS Malaysia: National Highway Concessionaire

Every time you drive from Bukit Kayu Hitam in the north to Johor Bahru in the south without stopping at a traffic light, you are actually travelling on the assets of a single company: PLUS Malaysia Berhad. It is not a government agency, but neither is it an ordinary private company — it is a concessionaire that operates the nation’s road backbone under a long-term agreement with the government.

What is PLUS Malaysia Berhad?

PLUS Malaysia Berhad is Malaysia’s largest tolled-highway operator. Through its subsidiaries, PLUS manages, operates and maintains more than 1,130 km of dual-carriageway multi-lane roads across seven states on the west coast of the Peninsula, including the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

Its core asset is the North-South Expressway (NSE) — the longest single route in Malaysia, connecting the northern part of the Peninsula all the way to the south. In addition, PLUS also operates several other highways, among them the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), the Penang Bridge, the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link (Linkedua), the North-South Expressway Central Link (ELITE), the Seremban–Port Dickson Highway, the Butterworth–Kulim Expressway (BKE), and the East Coast Expressway Phase 2 (LPT2).

Who owns PLUS?

PLUS’s ownership structure reflects the public interest in national infrastructure. It is owned by two government-linked entities:

Shareholder	Percentage	Note
UEM Group Berhad (under Khazanah Nasional)	51%	UEM Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Khazanah
Employees Provident Fund (KWSP/EPF)	49%	Retirement fund for private-sector workers

Both shareholders are government-linked entities: Khazanah is the national wealth fund, while the EPF manages the retirement savings of private-sector workers. PLUS’s profits are distributed as dividends to these two entities according to their respective shareholdings.

How does the toll concession model work?

A concession is a long-term contract: the government grants a company the right to build, operate and collect tolls on a highway for a fixed period, in return for the capital invested. After that period ends, the asset reverts to the government.

This model allows the government to build large-scale infrastructure without directly burdening the public budget — the users who pay tolls bear the cost, rather than the general taxpayer. But it also means that toll rates and concession periods become public-policy issues that are frequently debated.

Why was the PLUS concession extended to 2058?

PLUS’s original concession period was due to end in 2038. Between 2017 and 2019, the government expressed its intention to sell PLUS as part of efforts to reduce the toll burden on users.

On 17 January 2020, the government announced a resolution: instead of selling PLUS, its concession was extended by 20 years from 2038 to 2058, on condition of a toll-rate reduction.

Item	Before	After the 2020 decision
Concession end	2038	2058
Toll rate (private vehicles)	Original rate	Reduced by 18%
North-South Expressway (sen/km)	13.6 sen	11.15 sen
Toll increases	Periodic	None throughout the extended concession

According to The Edge Malaysia, the 18% toll reduction on private vehicles took effect on 1 February 2020 and covered eight major highways: the North-South Expressway, NKVE, ELITE, the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link, the East Coast Expressway Phase 2, the Seremban–Port Dickson Highway, the Butterworth–Kulim Expressway, and the Penang Bridge. The sourced example is the North-South Expressway rate, which fell from 13.6 sen/km to 11.15 sen/km. To offset this reduction, the concession period was extended. The government estimated that this arrangement would save around RM42 billion over the concession period.

What does it mean for road users?

For the ordinary user, the practical effect is clear: lower and stable toll rates until 2058, without the periodic increases seen previously. PLUS, in turn, continues to hold responsibility for asset management, operations and the financing of maintenance throughout the extended period.

The Touch ‘n Go card, introduced in 1997, enables electronic toll payment on PLUS highways and marks the ongoing shift towards cashless operations.

What’s next

The big unanswered question is what happens after 2058 — whether the highways are returned fully to the government, or the concession is restructured once again. To explore this topic further, delve into the profiles of Khazanah Nasional and UEM Group as owners, as well as the role of the EPF as a retirement-fund investor in national infrastructure assets.

Note: This draft was prepared with AI assistance and has not yet undergone human editorial review. Key figures were checked against the official PLUS Malaysia website, The Edge Malaysia reports, a Khazanah Nasional press release, and the official Touch ‘n Go website. Several details listed under verificationNeeded still require human verification.