Extra immigration officers to be deployed to Johor’s land checkpoints to reduce congestion: Chief minister
Vehicles form a long queue to enter Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore early on Apr 1, 2022, before crossing the causeway to Malaysia's southern Johor state. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
JOHOR BAHRU: An additional 250 immigration officers will be deployed to the land checkpoints in Johor by September, said its chief minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi on Thursday (Jun 15).
This on top of the 100 immigration officers that were already announced for June in order to address the traffic congestion issue at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar’s CIQ Complex (BSI) at the Causeway and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) at the Second Link.
Speaking during the Johor assembly sitting, Mr Onn Hafiz outlined some immediate and short-term measures to reduce traffic congestion amid a wait for the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link to begin operations in 2026.
Among the measures announced include increasing the number of passenger buses, controlling the flow of traffic especially in the bus routes, modifying the position of the electronic gate (e-gates) and issuing more M-Bike (Malaysia Biometric Identification of Motorbikes) stickers.
“The state government did not choose to just wait but instead took immediate and short-term measures to overcome the issue that is affecting many parties, while waiting for the RTS (to begin operations) in order to overcome the congestion issue at land checkpoints,” Mr Onn Hafiz told the state assembly.
He was responding to questions posed by state assemblymen about efforts by the Johor government to reduce traffic congestion at the two CIQs.
The RTS Link aims to connect Bukit Chagar in Johor Bahru city to Woodlands in Singapore, serving about 10,000 passengers per hour each way to help ease traffic congestion on the Causeway.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 300,000 crossed the Johor-Singapore Causeway daily, making it one of the world’s busiest borders.
During the 2022 year-end holiday season, more than 360,000 travellers passed through the Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints daily.
Last month, after a working visit to the RTS Link Project Marine Viaduct site in Johor Bahru, Singapore’s Transport Minister S Iswaran said that construction on the Singapore side was around 50 per cent completed.
Meanwhile, his Malaysian counterpart Anthony Loke noted that the construction on the Malaysia side was around a third complete.
During the state assembly sitting on Thursday, Mr Onn Hafiz also explained that the shortage of immigration officers, among others, has contributed to the current traffic congestion at the land checkpoints.
“At BSI, (the number of) immigration officers required is around 1,200 staff but they only operate with 700 staff. There is a shortage of 500 staff,” he said.
The chief minister also assured that he will continue to monitor the issue on the ground until it has been resolved consistently.
“I have visited the BSI CIQ a total of 60 times and a total of 14 times at the KSAB CIQ,” he told the state legislative assembly.
On May 22, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail was quoted as saying by Bernama that 100 officers will be stationed at strategic locations in Johor, including the two CIQs.
Meanwhile, Mr Onn Hafiz also noted that smoother traffic flow between Johor and Singapore is attracting Chinese investors to the state.
He pointed out that a China-based company, JStar Motion, opened its factory in Johor with an investment value of RM300 million (US$64.7 million) and 600 job opportunities.
Mr Onn Hafiz said that the company will invest another RM100 million to expand its business in Johor and will also encourage its suppliers to open business in the state due to the smoother traffic between Johor and Singapore.
“The state government's desire is none other than to expand the economic spillover generated so that all levels of society in Johor can experience it,” Mr Onn Hafiz told the state assembly on Thursday.
Mr Onn Hafiz also previously assured that resolving manpower issues at the Causeway remains a key objective for the Johor state government in improving connectivity in the short term between Singapore and Malaysia.
He added that the efficiency level of immigration facilities on the Malaysian side of the Causeway must be raised to 100 per cent in order to alleviate congestion at the land border.
“On the Johor side (of the Causeway), we have to make sure that our facilities are working at 100 per cent efficiency,” Mr Onn Hafiz told CNA on Apr 19.
“I just felt that we are not there yet. We are only working at 80 per cent at the moment. So there are some issues that need to be resolved in terms of human resources and technical (matters).”
