KUALA LUMPUR: Efforts to resolve the crippling gridlock faced by motorists daily at the Johor Causeway have been put into motion, says the Home Ministry.
Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is the chairman of the Special Committee on Congestion at the Johor Causeway, was yesterday briefed on the status of the initiatives approved in the committee’s meeting on Aug 21.
The government had, in the 2020 Budget announcement, allocated RM85 million to resolve the issues affecting traffic at the Causeway, which serves as a key link point between Malaysia and Singapore.
The ministry, in a statement today, said the previous meeting had proposed 23 initiatives to tackle the issue, split into short-term, medium-term and long-term initiatives.
The ministry said it had established five technical working groups (TWG) to ensure that all the initiatives ran concurrently.
The five TWGs, said the ministry, are:
1. Upgrading the entrance complex and the Johor Causeway
2. Human resource policies
3. Upgrading the automated checkpoint and border system
4. Feasibility studies
5. Communications management plan
The TWGs comprise officers from various ministries and agencies which are directly involved in the execution of the initiatives, including the Communications and Multimedia Ministry; Foreign Ministry; Economic Affairs Ministry; Prime Minister’s Department, Customs Department, Immigration Department, and others.
The ministry said all 23 initiatives were being implemented in various stages.
For the medium- and long-term initiatives which require financial allocation, planning and technical design, work is being done, while construction, in terms of building renovations and upgrades, will begin next year.
“Upgrading and the addition of equipment for the entry point, such as the Malaysian Automated Clearance System (MACS) and M-BIKE, had partly begun and will be completed next year,” it said.
The ministry said the Touch ‘n Go reload counter at the Sultan Iskandar Building customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) complex had been closed, while the reload counter at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex would be shuttered from Oct 29.
This, said the ministry, was to ensure that information was widely disseminated to all users in the given period, and to prevent any traffic caused by users who did not have enough credit in their Touch ‘n Go cards.
“The Home Minister has also urged all TWGs to intensify their efforts to ensure that all the initiatives were implemented on schedule.
“The agencies in charge of operational aspects of the entrance points, namely the Immigration Department and police, have been monitoring the developments and will make the necessary decisions to reduce gridlock, such as during the Deepavali holidays, which will take place from October 26 to 28.”
The New Straits Times had, since early this year, highlighted the congestion motorcyclists have to endure at the Johor-Singapore border to get to work.
Most of them set out as early as 4.30am and have to endure a one to 1½ hours of congestion to get through Immigration and Customs.