Khaw Boon Wan: No plans to introduce a reciprocal charge on vehicle permit fees by Malaysia

Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan has stated in Parliament that there are no plans to introduce a reciprocal charge for now, though the Government will monitor Malaysia’s implementation of the VEP.

He was responding to questions filed by MP for Jurong GRC Mr Ang Wei Neng who asked the Minister for Transport whether the Ministry will review the VEP fee and toll charges for foreign-registered vehicles entering Singapore in light of the announcement by the Malaysian Government to impose a vehicle entry permit (VEP) fee on top of the road charge currently imposed on foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia from Singapore.

Malaysia’s transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has earlier stated on 7 October that all foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia will soon require a RM25 (S$8.06) vehicle entry permit (VEP) which will be valid for five years and vehicle owners will receive a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag to be placed on the windshields of their vehicles.

Mr Khaw stated that although Malaysia’s Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) shares the same name as Singapore’s VEP, they serve different purposes. He said that Singapore’s VEP fee is to equalise the cost of owning and using a Malaysia-registered vehicle in Singapore with that of a Singapore-registered vehicle.

Malaysia’s VEP fee, on the other hand, appears to be intended to recover the cost of radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards from users of foreign vehicles entering Malaysia. Malaysia has also announced that it will implement the VEP fee at the Causeway, the Second Link and the Malaysia-Thailand borders from end-2017, and at the Malaysia-Brunei and Malaysia-Indonesia borders in 2018.