Facility in Pasir Gudang will help reduce congestion and boost tourism, says Johor MB

JOHOR BARU: Johor has proposed for a ferry terminal in Pasir Gudang as a means to help reduce congestion as a large volume of commuters are travelling between Malaysia and Singapore through the Causeway and Second Link.

The new terminal, to be set up in Kong Kong, would include water taxi services besides vehicles to ferry them to Singapore’s Changi Ferry Terminal, said Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

“With this service, we hope to at least reduce the congestion at the two existing routes to and from Singapore.

“I cannot say for sure by how much we can cut down the traffic at the existing routes as that would need to be studied first,” he said when attending the Johor Baru-Singapore Taxi Service Terminal Management Hari Raya open house on Tuesday.

He added that the proposal would be submitted to the Federal Government soon to consider and once given the green light, the project would start next year.

He said the proposed terminal was also an alternative mode of transportation for those staying in the east of Johor Baru such as Pasir Gudang as it would cut down on travelling time to Singapore.

“It takes about 20 minutes from the proposed terminal to Changi and this is convenient as commuters need not go all the way to the city centre (for Causeway) and Gelang Patah (for Second Link),” he said.

He added that the terminal would also create job opportunities, such as businesses and for public transportation like taxi services.

“Once we launch Pengerang and Desaru as the next tourism attraction next year, more Singaporeans would be visiting Johor.

“This increases the need for such a terminal to be set up here,” he said.

The island republic’s ferry terminal currently offers services to Tanjung Belungkor in Desaru here and Batam, Indonesia.