JOHOR BARU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - At least 200,365 Singapore-registered vehicles have been registered with the Transport Ministry for the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP).

The VEP system has been activated at the two land entry points in Johor at the Causeway and at the Second Link since June 1.

The scheme requires Singapore-registered vehicles to register with Malaysia's Road Transport Department before entering.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday (Nov 26) the final date for implementation of the VEP had, however, yet to be determined as his ministry was still collecting online registrations.

He said the VEP, unlike the recently implemented RM20 Road Charge (RC), was important to weed out cloned cars and foreign-registered vehicles that entered Malaysia without exiting as well as road users with unpaid compounds.

"This is not a move to discriminate against Singapore as the same charges will be introduced in stages at other entry points in the country, at the borders with Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei," he said.

Datuk Liow was speaking to the media during his visit to the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar CIQ complex to monitor RC operations.