JOHOR BARU, May 2 — The government has vowed to improve the welfare and well-being of its staff from the various agencies who are stationed at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complexes (CIQ) of both checkpoints in Johor to enhance the service quality at the country's two land border crossings.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi today said the state and federal governments are committed to improving the existing system in an effort to reduce the traffic congestion that has been a bane to both border crossings, especially during weekends and festive season.
“Regarding the manpower issues at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) dan Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) , the authorities have agreed to review the personnel’s shift times during peak hours, resolving the lack of immigration staff.
“The authorities will also look at administrative issues such as overtime allowances and overall staff welfare such as providing rest areas, air conditioning as well as chairs in the counters," said Onn Hafiz in a Facebook post.
He had earlier chaired a meeting between officers from the state government and the Home Affairs Ministry which was represented by its secretary-general Datuk Ruji Ubi and the Immigration Department’s deputy director general in charge of management Datuk Zakaria Shaaban.
Onn Hafiz said that during the meeting, several matters were discussed and agreed upon by the parties present, including technical issues at both BSI here and KSAB in Gelang Patah.
“For BSI, the discussion touched on the planned installation of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras for counter monitoring, merging of counters, e-gate modification, the automatic land barrier (ALB) project, the addition of a roof to M-Bike area and air conditioning maintenance.
“For KSAB, the discussion involved the addition of a roof to the M-Bike area, improving the roofing in the passenger hall, reviewing the installation of road barriers for efficient traffic flow before the checkpoint and improving the direction signs,” he said.
Onn Hafiz said both parties had also agreed to review the need for an intermediary bus from the rest area to KSAB to prevent other vehicles from entering the bus lane.
He said both the state and the federal government will continue to work together to improve the existing system to reduce traffic congestion in the area.
Last Friday, Onn Hafiz proposed five short-term measures to deal with the problem of congestion during peak hours at the CIQ complex in BSI.
He said that with a more efficient operation, the issue of traffic congestion could be reduced.
Since last month, Onn Hafiz has been focusing efforts to ensure a more efficient flow of traffic at both of Johor’s land border crossings into Singapore prior to the Aidilfitri celebrations.