SEPANG, Nov 12 — The government is in the midst of studying the mechanism before the implementation of the departure levy on travellers leaving Malaysian airports which will be introduced on June 1 next year.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the mechanism on the collection had yet to be finalised, whether it would be an add on to the Passenger Service Charge (PSC) or collected by the customs or Immigration.

"It will be announced when it is completed,” he told reporters after launching the Ground Team Red Sdn Bhd’s control centre for ground handling services at Kuala Lumpur International Airport KLIA2 here today.

The government has proposed a fee of RM20 per head for those departing for Asean countries and RM40 for other countries in the 2019 Budget.

Asked what was the difference between the levy and PSC, Loke said PSC was paid to the airport to run airport operations while the government did not collect any PSC.

"Of course, there is an operating agreement with Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd  (MAHB) whereby certain portion of revenue goes to the government every year but PSC is not collected by the government.

"Meanwhile, the departure levy is a tax introduced by the government to increase revenue. We have estimated that the government will collect several hundreds of million based on passengers leaving Malaysia,” he added.

Loke said the departure levy was new in Malaysia but had been practised in Indonesia and Thailand. — Bernama