Johor menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi said with greater efficiency and operating at the maximum level, the problem of traffic congestion could be reduced to ease the woes of commuters, especially those travelling between Johor Bahru and Singapore on a daily basis.

He said among the measures were that all counters must be open during peak hours, any shift change between immigration counter staff must be made only during off-peak hours, and the merging of car lanes for zones A, B, C, and D at the complex here must be completed no later than July 2023.

“In addition, the shortage of immigration staff and administrative issues on OT (overtime) work must be resolved immediately.

“The immigration department and the public works department (JKR) need to continue to monitor the work of concession companies in terms of maintenance of public facilities and assets at the BSI CIQ and the Sultan Abu Bakar CIQ complex (Second Link).

“I am aware of the constraints faced by the state and federal immigration authorities, but I am confident that with strategic and continuous cooperation between all parties, the issue of congestion on both routes between Johor and Singapore can be dealt with more effectively, ” he said.

Onn Hafiz said this through a post on his official Facebook after monitoring the situation at the CIQ here together with deputy immigration director-general (control division) Ken Leben, this morning.

Also present were state public works, transport and infrastructure committee chairman Fazli Salleh and state JKR director Abu Bakar Abd Aziz.