JOHOR BARU, Feb 6 — A total of 26 additional electronic gates (e-gates) will be installed at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex of the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) here by this month to facilitate faster immigration clearance.

Johor Public Works, Transport, Infrastructure and Communications Committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said the facility is scheduled to begin operating on February 19.

He said that the additional e-gates brings the total number at the inbound arrival hall to 39 units, while at the outbound departure hall will have 29 units.

“The additional e-gates have already arrived at the BSI CIQ. A total of 26 new e-gate units have been installed and are now being tested before they can be operational in two weeks time.

“There are 17 units installed at the arrival hall, while the other nine units are installed at the departure hall,” he said in his latest posting on his official Facebook today.

Previously, there were 22 e-gate units at the arrival hall, while the departure hall had 20 units to facilitate immigration clearance.

The latest upgrades are part of ongoing efforts to reduce long queues and improve travel time for commuters crossing the Johor-Singapore border.

Mohamad Fazli hopes that with the additional e-gate units, travel between Malaysia and Singapore here will be a smoother process and provide convenience to visitors.

On January 20, 2023, the government agreed to allow for the e-gate system at both the CIQ BSI here and CIQ Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (KSAB) in Iskandar Puteri to be used by foreigners, especially Singaporeans who commute to Johor for social purposes.

The move is among the short-term solutions taken to streamline the flow of travelers at BSI and KSAB, the inland border crossings in Johor.

On October 13, 2023, Mohamad Fazli was reported to have said that work on additional e-gates, specifically for pedestrians, have shown to speed up commuting to Singapore without long queues.