An average of 350,000 daily travellers cross the border from Malaysia to Singapore, mostly for work, since the border reopened on April 1, 2022 after the Covid-19 pandemic.
OVER the past two years, the state government has been actively involved in upgrading infrastructure and public amenities for the benefit of the people and also to attract more investors into the state. Among the improvements include upgrading of roads, the two land checkpoints with Singapore, public healthcare and even cleanliness state-wide.
For the two checkpoints, dubbed the country’s busiest, have seen a lot of improvements since the frequent visits made by top officials, mainly Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi in the past two years to address the long-standing issues.
Bangunan Sultan Iskandar customs, immigration and quarantine complex (BSI) at the Causeway and Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) at the Second Link see an average of 350,000 daily travellers, mostly for work, since the border reopened on April 1, 2022 after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Johor government has also poured a lot of funding to improveJohor’s infrastructure and facilities such as roads to benefit the peopleand attract more investors into the state.
Onn Hafiz has personally made more than 80 surprise visits to both checkpoints as of August last year to tackle what he described as “legacy issues” such as traffic congestion, lack of manpower and faulty facilities like non-functioning autogates.
Effa Suraya A. Hamid, who commutes to and fro Singapore daily where she works as a kitchen helper, said it used to take her about two hours to go through the process of queuing up for immigration clearance at BSI and then crossing the Causeway to the city-state by bus.
“The traffic jam used to be quite bad and it previously took me another two hours to journey back to Johor Baru after work; so around four hours were spent commuting each day.
“Since the MB stepped in to address the traffic congestion issues, the change was significant because I can now travel to and fro in half of the time I used to take,” the 42-year-old said.
She said heading back to Johor Baru after work was also a breeze as many autogate lanes and manual counters are open, resulting in a smoother immigration clearance.
Onn Hafiz (in white) looking at the road conditions in Pasir Gudangduring one of his frequent spot checks.
“With the time saved, I am able to reach home quickly and spend more time with my family,” she said, commending Onn Hafiz and the related government agencies for their efforts to improve the people’s commute.
“Honestly, I have never seen a leader who is as committed as he is because he visits both the checkpoints frequently to learn about the situation and listen to the people’s grouses himself.
Effa Suraya said she is able toreach home quickly since thestate government’s intervention totackle the traffic congestionissues at BSI.
“I started working across the border in 2022 in order to earn enough to take care of my nine children. Having a smooth journey is a welcomed convenience as it takes a lot of pressure off of my commute.”
Another frequent BSI user, Hang Hui Sek, said he used to dread crossing the border on Mondays, especially after a long weekend or festive celebration.
He described the situation as “super packed” with queues often spilling into the corridor of the immigration clearance hall at the CIQ, as people rushed to head across the border for work.
Road upgrading works being carried out at Hospital Sultanah Aminah in May 2022 as instructed by Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi.
“I can see the difference now that improvements have been made such as ensuring all counters are open... the situation on Mondays is no longer as bad as before.
“The contra-flow lanes introduced by Onn Hafiz in October last year has also helped to ease the traffic flow, as vehicles can utilise opposite lanes to enter Singapore.
Hang said he used to dread crossing the border on Mondays, especially after a long weekend or festive celebration as the situation would be ‘super packed’.“This way, the traffic flow is smooth and there is a steady stream of buses that pick up passengers like me to cross the border,” said the 41-year-old van driver.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old S. Sahana, who carpools to Singapore via the Second Link, said the traffic situation at the Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ, Tanjung Kupang has also improved recently.
“I have been using the Second Link every weekday for the past nine years to travel to and from Singapore where I work as a shipping executive. I am glad that the authorities decided to open up new lanes for cars and motorcyclists for immigration clearance.
“After the improvements, I can pass through immigration clearance in half an hour to an hour depending on the traffic volume,” she said, adding that she leaves her house at around 5am and returns home by 7.30pm.
Sahana, who is currently pregnant, added that the smooth traffic flow has helped to reduce her stress levels so she could begin and end her work day with peace of mind.
In June last year, Onn Hafiz reportedly said that some 300,000 Malaysians utilise the two border crossings daily to earn a living, where each commuting individual typically has a spouse and at least two children.
“This means that the issue indirectly affects 1.2 million Johoreans, which is 30% of the state’s population. Every hour they spend facing the congestion is an hour wasted for them to be with their families,” he said.
Sahana said the traffic situation atthe Kompleks Sultan abu BakarcIQ, tanjung Kupang has improvedrecently.Not only did he propose changes to tackle traffic congestion, he also pushed for the human resources issues that have been hampering operations at the two CIQs to be solved such as lack of manpower, overtime claims and improving the welfare of the officials on duty.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof reportedly also said that the number of travellers going through the two checkpoints is set to more than double soon from 71 million in 2022 to 157 million by 2025.
Aside from the two land checkpoints, Onn Hafiz and his state executive councillors also frequently visit and conduct spot checks to look at the condition of public amenities.
Following this, roads in Pasir Gudang, Senai, Skudai highway, Pasir Gudang highway, Jalan Kota Tinggi-Mersing, Jalan Pontian-Kukup and Jalan Batu Pahat-Mersing underwent upgrades to widen them and fix potholes.
As of March 15, the state and federal governments have committed an allocation of RM235mil to upgrade federal roads, RM150mil to upgrade state roads, RM300mil for roads under local councils, RM15mil for village roads and RM30mil for agricultural roads.
For public healthcare, the state government allocated RM500,000 in 2022 to upgrade the parking lot at Hospital Sultan Ismail (HSI), RM95,000 to replace its polycarbonate roof and RM75,000 to purchase link chairs for the waiting area.
A total of RM550,000 was also spent to provide free shuttle bus services for patients and visitors to Hospital Sultanah Aminah (HSA) and HSI from Sunday to Thursday, starting 6.30am until 6pm.
Both the state and federal governments had together upgraded 14 health clinics and 29 village clinics involving RM13.7mil.
Hospitals in other districts were not left out; RM254,000 was allocated for the upgrade of Hospital Pakar Sultanah Fatimah in Muar and RM146,037 was set aside to purchase computers for the wards at HSA and Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail in Batu Pahat.
In the 2024 state budget, more than RM5.7mil was allocated to support the public healthcare sector even though it was under the federal government’s purview.
