pic by TMR FILE

ELECTRONIC payment system Touch ‘n Go (TNG) will gradually end its 10% surcharge imposed at parking facilities, said Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Chong Chieng Jen.

The CIMB Group Holdings Bhd owned company has initiated a programme that ensures all new contracts or future renewals will not impose any merchant discount rate surcharges.

“As for existing surcharge-based contracts, it will expire in stages,” Chong told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (Barisan Nasional-Ayer Hitam) had asked on how the government restricts the monopoly on the use of TNG electronic payment cards in view of the additional 10% charge on parking and 50 sen for each additional reloads.

“According to the Malaysian Competition Commission, an agency under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs charged with enforcing the Competition Act 2010, an additional 10% is charged only where both payment methods TNG and cash are available at the same time.

“The TNG service in this situation is seen as an easy alternative to cash. This means that users are given the choice whether to use TNG as a payment method,” Chong said.

He said the current 10% surcharge is a contractual obligation between TNG card and carpark operators with dual parking systems.