All going as planned: Comm Kamarul Zaman (left) visiting the early voting centre at Marine Police Region II headquarters in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: Special travel times and extra personnel are among measures to ease congestion at Johor-Singapore border checkpoints for the twin by-elections on Saturday.
About 200,000 individuals are due to cast their ballots in the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram by-elections, with a significant number of them returning from Singapore and other states.
State exco Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the Johor government would be issuing a travel time advisory to make it easier for voters returning from Singapore.
However, the state works, transportation and infrastructure committee chairman said there will not be any special lanes either at the Causeway or Second Link on polling day.
“We will make sure that all counters at both border crossings are open before and during polling day.
“The time advisory is to avoid voters being stuck for hours at the Causeway and Second Link, as Saturday is usually a busy time,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said the force will place extra personnel at the two entry points to ensure smooth traffic flow into Malaysia.
He added that the police would also be working closely with other agencies such as the Immigration Department to ease the immigration clearance process.
“There will be additional officers and personnel for both checkpoints,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) general manager Mohamed Noh Md Seth said almost 200 TNB workers were on standby on polling day to monitor supply for all 49 polling stations in Pulai and 14 polling stations in Simpang Jeram.
A total of 166,653 individuals are eligible to vote for the Pulai seat, and a total of 40,379 voters are eligible to vote for Simpang Jeram.
