JOHOR BARU: The Singapore government's willingness to retract the Reciprocal Road Charge (RRC) is a welcome move, said Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi.
He said it was not Malaysia’s intention to discriminate against the republic when the RM20 Road Charge (RC) was imposed on all foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia through the Causeway and Second Link on Nov 1 last year, as the RC will be imposed at all border checkpoints in stages.
"We will impose the Road Charge at all checkpoints of our borders this year, with Thailand being the next one," said Aziz when contacted by the New Straits Times, although he could not specify when the implementation will take place.
He said the RC at checkpoints with Thailand has been fixed at RM20, similar to the charge imposed at the Causeway and Second Link.
Aziz added that the implementation of the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) on foreign vehicles entering Malaysia may take place sooner than expected.
"The ministry plans to start implementing it sometime in the middle of this year, but we are still finalising the fee that will be imposed," he said.
On Thursday, the republic's Ministry of Transport said that Singapore will withdraw its RRC if Malaysia withdraws its RC, or implements it in a non-discriminatory way.
The ministry described the “non-discriminatory way” as Malaysia implementing its RC at all of its land borders, at an equal cost and on all non-Malaysian-registered cars.
Meanwhile, the Singapore General Consulate in Johor Baru said only about one out of ten foreign-registered vehicles that enter Singapore pay Singapore’s VEP, and they are mostly driven by people who work in Singapore; while the other 90 per cent do not pay the VEP during VEP-free days or hours.
In a statement, the consulate said this is different from Malaysia’s RC, which is a 24-7 levy imposed on all non-Malaysian-registered cars entering Malaysia via Johor.
"Singapore’s VEP policy, which has been in place since 1973, is meant to equalise the cost of owning and using foreign-registered vehicles in Singapore with owning and using Singapore-registered vehicles.
"It ensures comprehensiveness of our vehicle population control policy, that there is similar restraint to using foreign vehicles on Singapore’s roads as there is for Singapore vehicles which are subject to the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system and high vehicle taxes," the statement said.
The statement continues to say that as long as Singapore is the only country affected by Malaysia’s RC, the government has no choice but to respond with the RRC.
"However, once the Road Charge is implemented at all of Malaysia’s other land borders (Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia) at an equal quantum and on all non-Malaysian-registered cars, we will remove our Reciprocal Road Charge," the statement said.