Congestion at Causeway has eased thanks to joint M'sia, S'pore efforts, says Anwar

The Star

The congestion at the Causeway connecting Johor Baru and Singapore has eased following the collective effort made by relevant Malaysian ministries, Royal Malaysian Customs and their Singapore counterparts.  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this in a joint press conference with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Oct 30), while Lee said at Singapore’s end, it has introduced various initiatives to make cross-border travel smoother and more efficient, while maintaining border security.  In another related matter, both Anwar and Lee welcomed the good progress made in the ongoing construction of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, and expressed confidence in the commencement of the RTS Link service by the end of 2026.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/43wmjymc  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 Thirdly, we are making good progress to strengthen connectivity.

00:06 One key project is the RTS link, the Rapid Transit System link, between Johor Bahru and Singapore.

00:15 It will be the third land link between the two countries, which will make it much more

00:20 convenient for our peoples, and we are all looking forward to the project's completion

00:24 by the end of 2026.

00:27 PM Anwar and I also discussed our efforts to alleviate congestion at our land checkpoints.

00:33 On Singapore's end, ICA has introduced various initiatives to make cross-border travel smoother

00:39 and more efficient, while maintaining border security.

00:44 And we have also started to redevelop the Woodlands Checkpoint to increase its capacity

00:49 and meet the expected long-term growth in cross-border traffic.

00:54 I am glad that the Prime Minister welcomes and supports Singapore's efforts.

00:58 While the Causeway has connected the people of Singapore and Malaysia over the last 100 years,

01:02 it has also faced its share of congestion issues.

01:05 So aside from the RTS, what new areas of cooperation or further improvements can we expect,

01:10 especially in terms of land connectivity?

01:13 On the Causeway, apart from the RTS link, what we want to do is to make full use of the capacity of the Causeway.

01:22 Because the flow depends not just on how wide the Causeway is, but also on the clearance on both sides,

01:30 the CIQ in Malaysia at JB and the CIQ at Woodlands.

01:34 The Malaysians have put in considerable efforts to improve the CIQ at JB.

01:39 I see that Mdm Besar has been visiting the CIQ at all hours in order to make sure that things are flowing well.

01:46 And we are trying our best to improve things on our side too.

01:49 One of the things we are doing on our side is to redevelop the CIQ for the long term,

01:55 so that I have more capacity and can handle bigger volumes and the flow through faster.

02:00 That means redevelopment, reclamation, I have to tear down the existing structure and I have to enlarge the footprint.

02:07 I explained this to Datuk Seri in our meeting.

02:11 I am happy that he supports our project and we will be able to see it through.

02:16 I think the Causeway is progressing and I must thank the Home Affairs Ministry in particular

02:25 and also Customs for facilitating the arrangement.

02:28 It is causing a huge problem for particularly workers from Malaysia,

02:33 having to wake up at four in the morning.

02:35 But I think that has eased.

02:37 And Singapore requires Woodlands, which is presently under Malaysian authorities.

02:46 And I have said that we can facilitate the sale so that Singapore can have the facility

02:54 to then make sure that the flow is made more easily,

03:01 both for Malaysian workers to Singapore and Singaporeans coming particularly during the weekends into Johor.

03:08 [Silence]

Category

Transcript

Recommended