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Johor's Menteri Besar (chief minister) Onn Hafiz Ghazi announced at an assembly sitting on Jun. 15 that an additional 250 immigration staff will be deployed at Johor land border crossings by September 2023.
During the state assembly, Onn Hafiz said that these additional staff will complement the existing 100 immigration officers previously announced, according to Astro Awani.
In May 2023, the Director-General of Malaysia’s immigration department said that a new shift change formula will be introduced in the upcoming months, alongside increased manpower.
Important to resolve congestion issues
The Johor chief minister was responding to questions from members of the State Legislative Assembly (ADUN) on measures taken to resolve congestion issues.
He said that the two Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complexes were the “heart” of Johor’s economic development, according to Utusan Malaysia.
Onn Hafiz used an example of Jstar Motion, a subsidiary of a China-based linear motion technology company, to illustrate the economic importance of the checkpoints.
The company, holding an investment value of RM300 million (S$87.05 million) and 600 work opportunities, appreciated the government’s efforts to improve traffic flow between Singapore and Johor, Bernama reported.
He noted that because of that, Jstar Motion will be investing an additional RM100 million ($29.02 million) in Malaysia.
Surprise inspections
Onn Hafiz recounted that since being Chief Minister, he had visited the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar’s CIQ Complex (BSI) at the Causeway 60 times, and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) at the Second Link 14 times.
Approximately 300,000 Malaysians pass through these checkpoints on a daily basis, according to Bernama.
The Johor Chief Minister has made several unannounced inspections and enforcements at the CIQ complexes for the past months, especially during the Hari Raya festive season.
He noted that such efforts would be continued unless the matter could be resolved consistently, while the Johor government was not merely "fighting fires," according to Utusan Malaysia and Bernama.
Until then, “every second wasted on the Johor Causeway and Linkedua due to congestion will definitely have an impact on the economy in terms of investment, trade, tourism, education and even real estate,” he was quoted as saying.
Short-term vs long-term
Onn Hafiz named several short-term solutions to ease congestion, including the addition of 350 immigration officers by September, Utusan Malaysia reported.
These are the ramping up of passenger buses numbers, speeding up of motorcycle crossings and amending the position of the electronic-gate systems.
On the other hand, he stated that the long-term solution was the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) link, which is expected to begin operations in 2026.
Onn Hafiz also thanked Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as well as other relevant parties involved in dealing with the traffic issue, according to Bernama.
RTS link
In May 2023, Singapore’s Minister for Transport S Iswaran said that construction works at the RTS Link “are on track to achieve timely completion”, while that at Singapore’s side was approximately 50 per cent done.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke, who was also present, said that progress of the railway infrastructure on their side has reached 36 per cent.
The RTS link was one of the issues discussed during PM Anwar's first official visit to Singapore as prime minister, together with PM Lee Hsien Loong.
Once completed, it will be able to carry 10,000 commuters per hour in each direction and is expected to significantly reduce congestion.
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Top images via Facebook/Onn Hafiz Ghazi