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M-Tag is made mandatory for all commercial vehicles from now on to enter the motorway. Starting from 31 March, this M-Tag facility will be replacing all the toll taxes at the motorway. The previous system which was the E-tag facility was used for toll tax and payments of utility bills. It is now replaced by M-Tag system.
The Frontier Works Organization (FWO) is now digitizing the motorway system by introducing a technology-driven system. The commuters can recharge their M-Tag accounts through various services such as JazzCash, FWO’s mobile app ‘Smart Motorways’ and also through their official website.
What is M-Tag?
M-Tag will work just like its predecessor E-Tag but in a much faster way. The vehicle owners will be given a chip, a
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) pre-paid chip, that will help the booths installed on the toll plazas to scan the vehicles when passing through the toll plaza. The scanners will then read the chips installed on the vehicles as they pass through it and your tax will be deducted upon passing through automatically. The scanner will also have a feature to record your location of entry and exit point, along with the remaining amount in your RFID-chip. Vehicle owners can recharge through the FWO website or app as well as JazzCash. You can also recharge your account through scratch cards of Rs 200, Rs 500, Rs 1000, Rs 2000 and Rs 3000.
There were dedicated lanes on the toll booths for the E-tag commutators, and they were only opened to those who had the E-tag sticker. NADRA was managing the E-tag system, linking the vehicle and owners’ details through a common database. As M-Tag is replacing E-tag, FWO says it will be managing it for now. M-Tag is for commercial vehicles right now, they plan to introduce the facility for all private owners in the later stage of the project.
How to register for M-Tag?
The M-Tag registration facility was free for private vehicles till 31 March, there was additional 300 free balance in your account if you registered your vehicle before the date. The facility provides you with rewards such as for every 5000 km of travel you will get 500 rupees of balance. There are various customer care centers as well as registration desks which have been set up at many toll plaza booths that are giving out M-Tag. If you want the M-tag now, you will be charged 300 rupees to get the tag, but for now the whole amount is deposited in your “M-Tag account” as credit.
Vehicle owners must have a valid CNIC, driving license along with your vehicle’s registration when you come to register for M-Tag. The system has been initially deployed at M2 Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, in the later stage of the project they will expand it to all motorways in Pakistan as part of CPEC 1-link motorways project. From now on commercial vehicles will be fined 300 rupees if they enter without having M-Tag.
These are the following rates of Toll Tax for M2 Lahore-Islamabad Motorway
- For Cars/Jeeps/Taxis: Rs 620.
- For Wagons: Rs 1,040.
- For Coasters: Rs 1,460.
- For Buses: Rs 2,080.
- For Trucks 2&3 Axle: Rs 2,700.
- For Articulated Trucks: Rs 3,480.
