Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today defended the government's decision to maintain Plus Malaysia Berhad as a state asset.

He said the decision was made after the government had consider all proposals made by several quarters.

"I have seen the proposal paper sent by Maju Holdings Group chairperson, Abu Sahid Mohamed, and we (the cabinet) also studied all proposals from other parties.

"However, the best decision was to maintain Plus under Khazanah and EPF (Employees Provident Fund)," he said during a press conference after chairing Bersatu leadership meeting at Albukhary Foundation in Kuala Lumpur today.

Mahathir was asked to comment on Abu Sahid's remarks where he branded Khazanah Nasional managing director Shahril Ridza Ridzuan as a "liar", few hours after Putrajaya announced the decision to keep Plus.

Abu Sahid, who is also the head of highway concessionaire Maju Express, had reportedly said the decision by Khazanah was "stupid", and questioned why his company was not informed about the decision when they were asked to make a proposal.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister's Office announced that the toll charges for private vehicles that uses highways operated by Plus would be reduced by 18 percent starting this Feb 1.

It also announced that there would be no toll hike for the highways until 2058.

The decision was made during the cabinet meeting on Jan 15.