One less piece of red tape

It's definitely a welcome sign by Malaysia to do away with the need to fill up the white immigration entry form at the causeway and the Second Link as part of a quiet trial run, according to The Straits Times.

While the Malaysian move may help ease the bottleneck on its end, there is another bottleneck at the Singapore immigration.

The two governments must do something more drastic to help ease the heavy traffic at the overused and congested causeway.

ST estimated about 250,000 people enter Malaysia via the causeway every day, and another 30,000 use the Second Link.

This works out to more than 100 million people a year, which is a staggering number as it is over 3 times the combined population of the two countries.

One solution could be a common immigration system, as Malaysia's earlier plan for a passport-free zone in Johor Baru didn't take off.

A common or joint immigration clearance will help ease the flow of people and goods in cars, lorries, buses and trains that use the causeway.

It's extremely unproductive for millions of people to open their car boots for immigration inspection twice, hand over their passports to unfriendly immigration officials twice, bring their luggage up and down from buses or trains twice, and pay toll twice.

But it's a tall order to expect the two governments to work together for the common good of people on both sides of the causeway.

This is because the two governments can't even agree to build a new overhead bridge to replace the causeway and clean up the filthy straits, and resolve a host of other bilateral problems.

In the meantime, many long-suffering travelers just have to think twice about using the causeway!

Causeway blues again, Part 2

As mentioned earlier, policy makers can be real small-minded, failing to take into account the broader interest.

According to The Straits Times tonight, motorists using the Second Link bridge, which connects Singapore and Malaysia on the western side of Singapore, will have to pay more in tolls from next month.

The report cited Singapore's Land Transport Authority as saying that the higher rates are 'pegged to those set by Malaysia'.

At the Second Link, charges will go up by as much as 30 per cent. Tolls for motorcycles, cars and light commercial vehicles will be 70 Singapore cents, S$4.60 and S$10.50 respectively from Feb 1. They were previously 60 Singapore cents, S$3.70 and S$8.30. For big lorries, buses and taxis, Second Link charges will be S$21, S$5.60 and S$3.50 respectively - from S$16.60, S$4.40 and S$2.70. And that's only the toll payable at the Singapore end!

The ST report said "those who opt to use the slightly more congested Causeway will mostly see no change."

Er, slightly more congested? The causeway is way, way more congested than the Second Link. Check out the live webcam provided by one.motoring at the two bridges if you don't believe me, especially in the mornings, evenings, and during weekends.

As argued in an earlier posting, it doesn't quite make sense for Singapore to match the toll imposed by Malaysia simply because the two countries built the second link bridge jointly in the late 1990s.

It also doesn't make sense to increase toll at the under-utilised Second Link as it would merely drive traffic to the already over-utilised and cheaper causeway. Both sides should be lowering toll at the Second Link to encourage more people to use the Second Link, which is not as well located as the causeway for residents of the two countries.

Policy makers of the two countries have obviously failed to take into account the massive cross-border flow of people and goods via the causeway. Both sides have simply acted in their governments' narrow interest without taking into account the hardship imposed on people on both sides of the causeway. The time and productivity wasted as a result of being stuck in the traffic gridlock on the causeway far outweighs the gains to the government in the form of higher toll collection.

Malaysian and Singapore transport officials have obviously not made much headway in easing traffic at the causeway. Malaysian lorries continue to enter Singapore via the causeway although there was a plan to divert them to the Second Link temporarily to facilitate construction work of the immigration complex at the Malaysian end.

Why should we all pay for the two governments' failure to ensure a smooth lane for motorists traveling between the two countries?


Archived posts:
Causeway blues again (1 December 2007)
Causeway blues (20 January 2007)
Cleaning up Johor Straits good for Singapore too (7 September 2007)

Causeway blues again

Source: Singapore's The Business Times (20 Jan 2007) The illustration shows the current toll rates for lorries and heavy vehicles, not cars and motorcycles.

Sometimes, you have to wonder whether policy makers look at the big picture at all.

Take the case of the toll rate at the Second Link connecting southern Malaysia and Singapore.

According to a report on Thursday, the Malaysian government will jack up the toll rates by 27% on vehicles using the Second Link Expressway from Jan 1. The other bridge connecting the two countries is the overused causeway, which links Woodlands in Singapore and the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru.

The report said passenger cars using the Second Link route will have to pay RM10.80 (S$4.60) next year, compared with RM8.40 now, The Sun newspaper quoted Works Minister S. Samy Vellu as saying.

Rates will also go up at two other Johor toll booths. At the Perling toll, passenger cars will have to pay RM2.30 compared with RM1.80 now. And at the Lima Kedai booth, the toll will be increased to RM3.90 from RM3.10.

The report said the rise in the toll rates is part of contractual obligations the Malaysian government signed with companies that built and manage the highways.

So far, the argument sounds logical. But the whole argument falls apart when it is seen in the wider context of essential infrastructure between Malaysia and Singapore.

Here are some bigger questions and issues concerning the two major arteries:

1. Shouldn't the Malaysian government be lowering toll rates at the Second Link to encourage more motorists to switch from the perennially congested causeway to the Second Link? Toll rates are substantially lower at the causeway, which is owned jointly by the two countries. Even more motorists will avoid the Second Link and flock to the causeway following the jump in the toll rates at the Second Link.

2. So far, it's not clear whether the Singapore government will follow suit in jacking its toll rate as well on motorists using the Second Link, which was built jointly by the two countries. The Singapore government had a policy of matching the Malaysian toll rate when the Second Link bridge was opened in 1998 although the rationale was debatable.

3. Shouldn't Malaysia and Singapore sit down and discuss ways to promote greater usage of the Second Link and ease the congestion on the causeway? Shouldn't the two governments help facilitate the massive cross-border flow of people instead of imposing any further burden on them?

4. Shouldn't the two governments think of fresh ways to ease the flow of people and goods between the two countries, as they couldn't even agree on a simple overhead bridge to replace the aging causeway and clean up the dirty Straits of Johor?

5. Shouldn't the two governments refer to the recently minted Asean Charter, which waxes lyrical about cooperation and dispute resolution in the Asean spirit, to help resolve their bridge problems?

While the two governments remain at odds with each other over a host of bilateral issues, people on both sides of the causeway will continue to bear the brunt of the causeway bottleneck.

Causeway Blues

Maybe, it's a good time for the two governments to sit down and discuss ways to help improve the massive flow of people and goods between Malaysia and Singapore via the two bridges linking the two countries.

The current situation has not been ideal, as reflected in the front page article in Singapore's Business Times today.

Possible long-term solutions:

1. To build a wider bridge to replace the ageing Causeway. Allowance must be made on the new bridge for additional infrastructure such as high-speed rail tracks and monorail tracks. Please see earlier postings for context.

2. The toll rate at the two bridges must be reviewed:

a) It's entirely unclear why one must pay toll to use the old causeway that was built by the British in the 1920s. They have the right to collect toll if they can provide a good service, which means seamless travel between Johor Baru and Singapore. Instead, motorists have to bear with constant traffic jam at the causeway that is even worse than Bangkok's infamous traffic woes.

b) In the case of the Second Link, it's also unclear why motorists have to pay toll to use the bridge, which was jointly built by United Engineers Malaysia and the Singapore government. Although it was a half privatised project in the mid-1990s, UEM's parent Renong was awarded a large tract of land at Nusajaya near the Second Link in return for the construction of half of the second bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore.

It's also debatable as to why the Singapore government should collect toll on its end of the Second Link although it was implemented on the principle of matching the Malaysian toll. Why was there a need to match it? The Singapore government had used the money of taxpayers to build the bridge jointly with Malaysia's UEM. At the same time, there are many other direct and indirect taxes on motorists in the Republic -- COE, ERP, road tax and GST.

While the two governments sort out the latest move to divert lorries to the Second Link for about one year starting Sept 1, motorists will continue to bear with the inconvenience and the high price of using the two public arteries.

It doesn't sound quite right.

Detour will hike cost of M'sian goods: business
By PAULINE NG IN KUALA LUMPUR AND JUDITH JACOB IN SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA'S move to divert heavy vehicles to the Second Link from the Causeway for about one year, starting Sept 1, could push up the cost of many essential goods entering Singapore, according to freight forwarders and other businessmen.

The temporary diversion of heavy vehicle traffic is aimed at easing the traffic gridlock to facilitate roadworks at the almost-completed new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex (CIQ) in Johor Baru.

But the move will push up business costs on both sides of the Causeway as the toll rate on the Second Link is substantially higher.

'They are shoving it down our throats but we cannot be subsidising, so we have decided to bill back to the customers,' Er Sui See, president of Pan Malaysian Lorry Owners Association (PMLOA), which has 10,000 members, told BT yesterday.

Operators of semi-trailers using the Second Link would have to stump out a total of as much as RM160 (S$70) return using two tolled highways plus the Second Link bridge connecting Tuas in Singapore and Gelang Patah in Johor state.

In contrast, the cost of using the Causeway in Johor Baru is up to RM22 for a two-way trip.

This represents a hike of over 600 per cent, before taking into account the Malaysian government's proposed rebates to truckers for the higher toll at the Malaysian end. The value of these rebates has not been disclosed.

Malaysian lorries ferry a substantial portion of Singapore's food needs on a daily basis.

An estimated 45 per cent of Singapore's supply of vegetables, 40 per cent of fish and 35 per cent of imported chickens come from Malaysia.

The bulk of the Malaysian supply of some 300 tonnes of vegetables daily is transported by lorries via the Causeway. Lorries carrying general goods are not likely to be entitled to the rebate.

Freight forwarders and transport companies were quick to say they will pass on the higher toll charges to end-users as well as the cost of covering the additional distance of some 30km each way from the Causeway to the Second Link.

'Definitely, the costs would be higher for goods imported and exported,' Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders (FMFF) secretary-general May Yee told BT.

Both bodies said they had not been consulted on the diversion or informed of the proposed rebate.

On Thursday, Malaysian Works Minister Samy Vellu said lorries providing logistics services between Johor Baru and Singapore would be given a toll rebate for using the Second Link but operators would have to apply for a special identification card to be entitled to the rebate.

He said the government would reimburse the rebate amount to the Second Link concessionaire.

The level of the rebate is currently being worked out but Ms Yee said a previous proposal last year by FMFF for a 50 per cent rebate had been rejected.

Mr Er pointed out that last year's special fleet card rebates for subsidised fuel for transport operators when diesel prices were raised would have involved such onerous paperwork that his fellow lorry owners instead decided to pass on the increased costs.

Singapore's Transport Minister Raymond Lim had earlier said that 'any diversion of traffic from the Causeway to the Second Link will have material implications for Singapore'.

Malaysia is completing a new road to link the CIQ to the Causeway, following the abandoned plans to build a new bridge to replace the Causeway, which was built in the 1920s.

The FMFF said 2,500 lorries use the Causeway each day, with only 900 taking the Second Link, despite Malaysia's attempts in the past to get more heavy vehicles to use it. Vehicles carrying hazardous goods are already required to use the Second Link.

The Malaysian Works Ministry told BT yesterday buses would not be affected by the diversion.

It is unclear how much freight movement is transacted daily between both countries, but estimates by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) in the mid-90s of trans-border trade volumes was 15-20 million tonnes annually, mostly across the Causeway and the Second Link.

With additional reporting by Janice Heng