PUTRAJAYA: Two hundred new graduates of the Malaysian Immigration Academy will be deployed to Johor's Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI), Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to help tackle congestion issues.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said 100 will be sent to Johor while the rest will head for KLIA from Monday.
"With these additional officers, we are confident that it will help ease crowd congestion at these facilities," he said after the Immigration Department Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations today.
Also present were Saifuddin's deputy Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah and Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh.
Saifuddin added that in a bid to reduce congestion at BSI and KSAB, the department will begin to enforce three new shift hours to handle the entry and exit of visitors during peak periods this Sunday. (May 21).
BSI, especially, was described by Saifuddin as one of the country's busiest international entry points in the world, handling close to 220,000 daily transborder movements.
The three new shifts are from 9am to 6pm; 4pm to 12am and 12am to 9am.
This was compared to the 7am to 4pm; 3pm to 11pm; and 11pm to 8am.
He added that a dry run was conducted recently and it proved to be effective in reducing the congestion during peak hours.
Saifuddin added that among other measures included constructing more autogates as well as the streamlining of two counters to one which involves passport checks as well as vehicle entry payment into Malaysia.
"Come August, visitors need to just make one stop instead of two which will cut off three to five seconds per vehicle for incoming procedures.
"These three to five seconds may seem little but it brings a huge relief to the traffic flow. This effort is in progress and it will be implemented in August," he added.