ALOR STAR: The Immigration Department has received additional manpower to cater for the extended operational hour of Bukit Kayu Hitam border checkpoint next month.
Its director-general, Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, said 60 additional staff would be stationed at the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex beginning Nov 1.
“We already have some 200 men there and, with the additional numbers, we could rotate them throughout the 20 hours daily operation from 6am until 2am,” he said after attending northern zone Setia Berjasa gathering here today.
The monthly gathering was attended by Immigration officers from Penang and Perlis.
Mustafar said as the leading agency at ICQS, the department was monitoring the work progress on the second border checkpoint, which was expected to be in operation next month.
He said he had been briefed by the contractor involved in carrying out the project.
“We need to make sure the facilities and equipment at the second checkpoint is completed to ensure there is no hiccup when the 20-hour operating hour begins.”
He said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was scheduled to visit the complex next month to monitor the operation at the second checkpoint.
It was reported that the Federal Government had agreed to extend the operation hour at from the current 18 hours to 24 hours from January 2019.
It was also reported that the border operation in Bukit Kayu Hitam will be extended to 20 hours with the completion of the second border checkpoint which will focus on heavy vehicles.
Mustafar said there were 16 department agencies stationed at the complex, and the department was working with other (departments and agencies) under the National Blue Ocean Strategies (NBOS) to carry out other enforcement activities including curbing illegal entry using rat lanes.