ISKANDAR PUTERI (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - More than 12 million people have travelled between Malaysia and Singapore using both the Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ BSI) and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (CIQ KSAB), said Johor Menteri Besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi.

The CIQ BSI complex is at the Malaysian end of the Causeway while the CIQ KSAB is at the Second Link.

Based on records from the Immigration Department, some 6.3 million Malaysians and 2.3 million foreigners have travelled through the CIQ BSI since the reopening of the border between April and last Tuesday.

“In the same period, some 2.7 million locals and 704,000 foreigners have travelled using KSAB,” he added.

Datuk Onn Hafiz said this in his reply to Members of Parliament during the state assembly sitting at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar on Monday (June 20).

The assemblymen wanted to know the situation at both checkpoints after the Malaysia and Singapore border reopened on April 1.

Mr Onn Hafiz said 138,000 people entered and exited the CIQ BSI daily, while figures stood at 28,000 people daily at the CIQ KSAB.

He said there were a total of 38 counters for cars, 50 for motorcycles, 12 for heavy vehicles and 42 automatic and manual counters for buses available at the CIQ BSI.

At the CIQ KSAB, there were 24 car counters, 25 motorcycle counters, 26 bus counters and three heavy vehicle counters.

“More manpower has been added to help improve the effectiveness of services in these two CIQs,” he said.

“The Immigration Department has stationed 1,631 of its personnel there, while the Customs Department has 722 personnel, followed by 87 personnel from the Road Transport Department and 206 police officers,” he added.

Meanwhile, the recent massive traffic congestion at the bus lane of the Second Link was due to an influx of tourists coming from Singapore, said a state official.

Mr K. Raven Kumar said close to 200 tour buses had crossed the Second Link to enter Johor during peak hours last Saturday.

“The Menteri Besar and I visited the Sultan Abu Bakar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine on Sunday to check on the situation following Saturday’s incident.
 

“We learnt that there was a large group of tour buses coming in all at once on Saturday, causing the crawl. The congestion happened between morning and noon and dissipated after that,” he told The Star.

Asked why local buses, including factory and public buses were given priority, he said it was to reduce congestion.

“Tour buses ferry foreign tourists who are coming in with passports while local buses ferry Malaysians.

“It takes a shorter period of time for passengers on local buses to pass the immigration checkpoint.

“That was why the tour buses were told to wait at the side.”
 

Immigration allowed passengers from only four tour buses to disembark at any one time to spare them the strain of standing in line for a long time, he said.

“It was not about giving preference to local buses but rather to ensure tourists do not have to suffer by standing too long at the immigration counter,” he added.

Asked if all the immigration counters were opened that Saturday, he said it was so only in the later hours of the day.

“There are some ongoing renovation works at the CIQ, as such, some of the counters were unmanned in the morning. However, after the traffic congestion got worse, we opened up all of the counters.

“We will ensure that the counters remain open in the future,” he said.