JOHOR BARU: Work on the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project is progressing well and has now reached 32.42 per cent to include various components such as the depots, stations, land lines and marine lines.
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State Works, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the Johor government is committed to ensuring that the high-impact public transport project will be operational in 2026.
“To ensure this project development runs smoothly, a task force was set up on Oct 21, 2020 to help facilitate any matter related to the state government such as land issues and so forth, with PLANMalaysia Johor as its secretariat.
“We expect the project infrastructure to be completed in December 2024 and operational by December 2026. So far we are running on schedule and the project development is closely monitored by the Transport Ministry,” he told a press conference after visiting the Johor Baru-Singapore RTS Link site at Marine Viaduct here, on Tuesday (April 4).
He said that with the introduction of the service, some of the travelling challenges faced by Malaysians and Singaporeans would be resolved as the train service can serve up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction.
The RTS Link is a four-kilometre shuttle service between Singapore at Woodlands North station and Malaysia at Bukit Chagar station here.
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On the proposal to establish a Light Rail Transit (LRT) service in this city, Mohamad Fazli said the state government is always open to suggestions but the matter requires a more comprehensive study since Johor already has other modes of public transport.
On March 28, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook reportedly said a private company had proposed to build an LRT in the city, but according to him the matter was still at the proposal stage.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Fazli said the state government will soon hold a coordination meeting with the Malaysian Immigration Department to plan on the smooth movement of vehicles at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) here and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) ) in Iskandar Puteri, ahead of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.
“As usual, during every festive season as well the general election period, meetings are held to discuss on the increase in the number of buses, opening of special lanes, more counters, security guards, Rela (Malaysian Volunteers Department) personnel and so forth to facilitate those entering and leaving Malaysia,” he said.- Bernama