Ministry of Transport (MOT) has said that it will match “in some form” to Malaysia’s new RM20 ($6.60) levy on Singapore-registered cars entering Malaysia’s two land checkpoints.
The Ministry said in a statement issued on Tuesday evening that the road charge scheme which was rolled out on Tuesday (1 November), is “discriminatory” saying that it is biased against Singapore-registered vehicles, as the fee is only applied at Malaysia’s checkpoints with the country.
The Ministry said, “We will match it in some form,” adding that details will be announced in due course.
Malaysia charges Singapore-registered cars entering Malaysia at two of the land checkpoints, Woodlands and Tuas second link. A round trip for a Singapore car going into Johor will incur over $19 in tolls and fees with the new road charge.
On 28 October, Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport had announced that foreign private-registered vehicles entering Johor will have to pay the road charge. It will be collected each time motorists enter Malaysia via Touch n’ Go cards.
Drivers will now have to tap their cards twice, at two different terminals – one for the road charge and the other for the checkpoint toll after getting their passports stamped.
Motorcycles are excluded from the road charge.
The local news quoted the Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai saying that Malaysian government has never practised discrimination in implementing the road charge (RC) for foreign-registered vehicles from Singapore to enter Malaysia as it will also be implemented at the entry points from other countries in phases.
Mr Liow said that the RC implementation has been notified to his counterpart in Singapore in advance.
“Singapore has been charging RC on us for decades. We are only about to start now. There is no discrimination. We will impose the road charge not only at our border with Singapore, but also our borders with Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia with a similar charge of RM20 per car,” Mr Liow told reporters in Segamat on 29 October.
Malaysia also shares 10 other road entry checkpoints with Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia, besides the two of Singapore’s.
