Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has insisted that Malaysians will pay more under the Pakatan Harapan government's new toll scheme for highways under Plus Expressways.

Najib had previously argued a person who previously spent RM400 a year on tolls would have only paid RM7,200 in a lifetime under the old scheme but will now end up paying RM12,464 under the new scheme.

He argued that this is due to the new scheme extending the concession period from 2038 to 2058 and despite the 18 percent discount on toll rates.

However, Damansara MP Tony Pua, who is also the political secretary to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, pointed out that Najib had failed to factor in the fact that there would be a five percent hike in toll prices every three years under the old scheme.

Najib dismissed this, stating that the previous BN government had prevented the hikes by paying compensation to the toll owners comprising EPF and Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

"Has Tony forgotten? Since 2005 until today, tolls owned by Plus have not gone up under the BN government as it is very willing in paying annual compensation to the EPF.

"Why not? Because the government wants EPF contributors to enjoy dividends every year," he said.

Pua said the new scheme will save the government RM26 billion in compensation which can then be channelled to development and welfare programmes.

The Damansara MP had also criticised Najib for not considering the fact that the same amount of money today would have a lower value in the future and questioned if Najib was willing to lend him RM10,000 now and only get the same amount back in 2058.

Considering the net present value with an interest rate of five percent, Pua said road users will still pay 7.1 percent less despite the concession being extended by 20 years.

Responding to this, Najib said: "I don't know if I will still be around in 2058.

"It would be better if he lends me RM100,000 today and if he or I are still around then, then I will pay him back RM200,000".

Najib also claimed that Pua was exaggerating the net present value.

"By using a five percent discount rate, he is claiming that Malaysian inflation will jump to five percent and will stay at five percent every year for 38 years until 2058.

"Is this realistic when Malaysia's inflation rate for 2018 was only 0.97 percent?" he said.

He claimed that the the new scheme would ultimately see EPF contributors "subsiding" road users.