JOHOR BARU: The Immigration Department has installed 14 new auto gates at the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) here, says Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
The Immigration director-general added that there are a total of 20 auto gates that have been operating for the past 10 years and will be replaced with a new one.
“From the 20 old auto gates, we have replaced 14 of them that are in operation, while the remaining six will be in full operation by Nov 15,” he said during a press conference at the CIQ BSI, here.
The replacement project began last year as part of the solutions suggested by the Special Committee on the BSI and KSAB Congestion.
The department has also improved 11 vehicle counters, with eight more still in progress, he added.
“The next phase will involve another 19 upgrades on vehicle counters that are expected to be completed by February next year.
“Previously, each vehicle would have had to pass through two counters, namely the Immigration and the Road Transport Department (JPJ) counters. But with the improvement, vehicle users will only need to pass through one counter,” he said, adding that this will save between 10 and 11 seconds per vehicle.
Khairul Dzaimee said that there have been irresponsible parties who have made claims that these upgrading works were done during the 15th General Election (GE15) and are trying to hinder Malaysians from voting.
“So, we hope that this explanation will be able to answer all of these irresponsible allegations that have been made,” he added.
Khairul Dzaimee added that 12 of the vehicle lanes heading to Singapore at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) in Gelang Patah have also been turned into flexible or contra lanes.
“This means that they can be used to travel from Singapore into the country if there is an increase of traffic on the polling day on Nov 19.
"Currently, we have a total of 48 travel lanes that are divided evenly between going to Singapore and entering Johor,” he explained.
