Johor to add 250 immigration staff to ease jams at checkpoints
In a bid to reduce congestion, the southern Malaysian state of Johor will deploy an extra 250 immigration officers to its land border crossings with Singapore by September.
Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi made the announcement during a state assembly sitting on Thursday.
In May, the Malaysian authorities said an additional 100 personnel would be deployed to the Johor land border crossings. The latest batch of 250 will complement this group.
Mr Onn Hafiz was responding to questions from assembly members about resolving congestion at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex in Johor Bahru and the Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ Complex in Iskandar Puteri.
He said the lack of staff was one reason for the traffic condition at the land checkpoints.
Mr Onn Hafiz said boosting staff numbers is one of several short-term measures to cut congestion at the Causeway and the Second Link.
Earlier in June, he said the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) will eventually help ease the traffic conditions.
But he pointed out that “we cannot wait” for the project to be completed around December 2026.
During Thursday’s state assembly session, Mr Onn Hafiz also presented other measures to address the situation. These included traffic flow management, particularly that of bus routes.
“The state government has chosen not to simply wait but has implemented immediate and short-term measures to address the issue that affects multiple parties while waiting for the RTS (completion) in order to overcome the congestion issue at land checkpoints,” he said.
Mr Onn Hafiz is reported to have personally visited the checkpoints at least 60 times in his bid to solve the issue.
In late May, he said congestion at the land border between Johor and Singapore has gone on for far too long and must be resolved by 2023.
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