JOHOR BARU, Oct 11 — Putrajaya has approved RM168.7 million for Johor to roll out four measures to ease the congestion at the Causeway and the Second Link Crossing to Singapore.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the four measures will be implemented in three projects as well as provide entry incentives to Immigration Department officers of various grades on duty at the land border entrances.

He said the incentive to the Immigration Department officers would involve RM7.93 million a year.

"The RM168.7 million allocation includes building additional 77 M-BIKE routes with a total cost of RM61.7 million. This includes 44 M-BIKE lanes at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here and 33 M-BIKE lanes at the Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar of the Second Link Crossing in Iskandar Puteri.

"It also involves the amalgamation of halls, upgrades and construction of new projects at KSAB amounting to RM106.9 million involving the three second phase projects that were approved last March.

"The construction of a covered pedestrian walkway along the Johor Causeway will also be implemented with a detailed cost estimate,” he said in a press conference at the complex here today.

Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Public Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi and Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi were also in town to inspect the immigration complex earlier this morning.

Fadillah later chaired a special committee meeting to address the international border congestion with the ministers.

Fadillah, who is also the plantation and commodities minister, said the entry incentive to the Immigration Department officers is to take care of their welfare in line with the concept of the Madani Malaysia framework.

He said there will be further discussion on the matter with the Public Service Department for the extension of these incentives to Immigration Department officers in Sabah and Sarawak.

Fadillah said the number of travelers entering the country on the Malaysia-Singapore land route is expected to increase at a rate of 15 per cent a year.

"It is estimated that 157 million travelers will pass through the two land border entrances at the Johor Causeway here and the Second Link Crossing at Iskandar Puteri by 2025,” he said.

He added that the number of people who travelled through both land crossings totalled 71 million last year, based on official data taken after Malaysia fully reopened its land borders on April 1, 2022 following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fadillah said the number of travelers at the two land border crossings had reached a total of 98 million people as of last month.

He pointed out that this figure is expected to continue to increase to around 136 million by the end of this year, returning to pre-Covid 19 numbers in 2019.