CIQ toll no burden to low-income group

KUALA LUMPUR: The new toll rates at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar, Johor Baru, for public transport will not burden the low-income group, said Malaysian Highway Authority director-general Datuk Ismail Md Salleh,
This is because the 95,000 daily users on motorcycles were not charged the toll at the CIQ, while more than 180,000 vehicles using the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) expressway and its inner ring roads stretching 8.6km were also not charged, he added.
Speaking at a briefing for the media here today, he said the new toll rates, which took effect on Aug 1, only affects vehicles travelling between Malaysia and Singapore through the CIQ.
The more than 180,000 users of the EDL were Johor Baru residents and were therefore not affected by the toll rate increase, he added.
The 3-lane EDL is an 8.1km expressway that connects the end of the North-South Expressway at Pandan Interchange to the CIQ and reduces the travel time by as much as 40 minutes.
Under the new toll rates, the costs for public using taxis only increased by RM37.40 per month for each passenger while the bus costs increased by RM6 per month per passenger.
The new rates for cars entering Malaysia are RM9.70; RM14.70; RM19.70, RM4.80 and RM7.80 for the different classes, while for cars leaving Johor Baru to Singapore the rates are RM6.80; RM10.20; RM13.60; RM3.40 and RM5.50.
Ismail said the rationale for the new toll rates was to pay for the cost of construction, operation, EDL maintenance, maintaining and operating the causeway and maintaining facilities to operate the CIQ-BSI operations.
He added that the government was also discussing with the concession company to create consumer incentives in the form of 'loyalty programme' to ease the burden of users.
Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad group chief operating officer Imran Salim said the Johor government made it clear that the EDL had to be built to resolve the traffic issue in Jalan Tebrau which could no longer handle the increasing traffic volume.
The number of vehicles currently using the road is about 120,000 daily.
He also said a study done by them had shown that most of the buses using the CIQ were factory buses in which the workers travel for free.