Malaysia will start collecting a fee of about 200 baht from vehicles entering the country from Thailand from the middle of this year, and Thailand will impose a similar charge early next year, transport deputy permanent secretary Somsak Hommuang said.
Mr Somsak said cars, vans and buses entering by road from Thailand will be charged about 20 Malaysian ringgit.
A meeting at the Transport Ministry on Wednesday morning considered collecting a reciprocal fee from vehicles entering Thailand from Malaysia.
The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) was assigned to hire a consultant to study and decide which toll collection system was the most suitable.
The OTP is also to study which agency should be responsible for collecting the fee. It could be handled by the Land Transport Department, the Customs Department or be outsourced to a private company, Mr Somsak said.
The OTP is to deliver its report to the Transport Ministry in six months.
According to Mr Somsak, the collection of the toll will enable an accurate count of the number of foreign vehicles in the country, and whether they have overstayed.
He was confident the level of the fee to be charged would not affect the number of vehicles passing in either direction.
At present there are nine official checkpoints on the Thai-Malaysian border. They are: Sadao checkpoint in Sadao district, Songkhla; Padang Besar checkpoint in Sadao district, Songkhla; Ban Prakop checkpoint in Nathawi district, Songkhla; Sungai Kolok checkpoint in Sungai Kolok district, Narathiwat; Tak Bai checkpoint in Tak Bai district, Narathiwat; Buketa checkpoint in Wang district, Narathiwat; Betong checkpoint in Betong district, Yala; Wang Prachan checkpoint in Khuan Don district, Satun; and, Satun checkpint in Muang district, Satun.
The collection of the toll on vehicles from Malaysia is expected to begin early next year, he said.