Johor menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi said of the total, the Immigration Department recorded 6.3 million Malaysians and 2.3 million foreigners travelling through CIQ BSI from April 1 to June 14.
A total of 2.7 million locals and 704,000 foreigners travelled through the CIQ KSAB during the same period, he said in reply to a question by Chen Kah Eng (PH-Stulang) at the state legislative assembly sitting here today.
Onn Hafiz said on average, 138,000 people used the CIQ BSI every day and 28,000 at CIQ KSAB.
“For the same period, 42.9% of Malaysians used buses to pass through CIQ BSI, 15.2% travelled by car, 38.1% motorcycles and 3.7% lorries. For non-citizens, 38.6% used buses, 54.7% by car, 6.6% by motorcycle and 0.1% in lorries.
“In the same period, at CIQ KSAB, 6.2% of Malaysians travelled by bus, 23.3% by car, 61% by motorcycle and 9.6% by lorry.
“For non-citizens, the figures were 9.5% in buses, 78.3% in cars, 12.2% on motorcycles and 0.01% in lorries,” he said.
Onn Hafiz said the state government had discussed with all agencies the sharp increase in the number of inbound and outbound users at both CIQs and to increase the manpower there.
He said 284 exit and entry counters operated at CIQ BIS and 169 at CIQ KSAB.
“Currently, CIQ BSI has 38 counters for cars, 50 for motorcycles and 12 for heavy vehicles. There are also 42 automatic and manual counters for buses.
“At CIQ KSAB, there are 24 counters for cars, 25 for motorcycles, 26 for buses and three for heavy vehicles.
“For both entry points, the immigration department has stationed 1,631 personnel, customs 722, road transport department 87 and police 206,” he added.
Onn Hafiz said several initiatives would be undertaken by the state government with the support of various state and federal agencies to deal with the increase in the number of travellers at both places.
He said motorcycle lanes would be increased to 75 from the current 50 lanes, while for the car lanes, the government would implement the “single loading, double capacity system” to save drivers time at the counters.
“Also, the implementation of the Touch‘ n Go facility at the immigration counters for car lanes is underway and expected to be completed by February 2023,” he said.