JOHOR BARU – The Immigration Department does not expect a significant increase in travellers entering the country at Johor’s two entry points on November 19, polling day for the general election.
However, its director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the department had made preparations and improvements to manage any possible traveller influx.
“This is my view. We are not expecting an influx like what we saw during the Deepavali celebration recently because it also involved foreigners and Singaporeans who took the opportunity to come into the country and celebrate the festival.
“For polling, it will only involve Malaysians who are working in Singapore, involving mostly about 200,000 who travel on a daily basis through the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building (SIB) and about 100,000 who use the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (SABC) entry point,” he said at SBI, here today.
Also present was Johor Immigration Department director Baharuddin Tahir.
Khairul Dzaimee added that among the improvements made at the country’s Johor entry point was the replacement of 20 auto-gates that were over 10-years-old for the use of Malaysian passport holders at CIQ SIB, which is expected to be fully completed by November 15.
“The upgrade work of 11 car entrance counters has also been completed and is fully operational, another eight counters are in the process of being upgraded, and another 19 counters will be completed in the next phase, expected to be fully completed in February 2023.
“Discussions of this phased upgrade work had started since 2021 by the master committee to deal with congestion on the Johor causeway through CIQ SIB and SABC,” he said.
In addition, a total of 45 automatic Malaysia Biometric Identification of Motorbikers (MBike) and five manual motorcycle counters at SIB and 24 MBike counters at SABC are operating well.
Khairul Dzaimee also encouraged Malaysians returning home to vote to use the Johor Baru Sentral train service, as immigration checks are completed in Woodlands, Singapore and passengers can disembark at the train station without having to go through immigration again. – Bernama, November 9, 2022
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