SINGAPORE: There are no plans to introduce a reciprocal charge for now for the vehicle entry permit (VEP) which will be implemented by Malaysia later this year, said Singapore Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan.
“We will monitor Malaysia’s implementation of the VEP,” he said in his written reply to MP for Jurong GRC Ang Wei Neng which was posted on the ministry’s website.
Ang asked whether the ministry would review the VEP fee and toll charges for foreign-registered vehicles entering Singapore in light of the announcement by the Malaysian government to impose the VEP fee on top of the road charge currently imposed on foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia from Singapore.
“Although Malaysia’s VEP shares the same name as Singapore’s VEP, they serve different purposes,” said Khaw.
“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,” he explained.
Khaw said Malaysia had also announced that it would implement the VEP fee at the Causeway, the Second Link and the Malaysia-Thailand border from the end of 2017, and at the Malaysia-Brunei and Malaysia-Indonesia borders in 2018.
In early October, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai announced that all foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia would soon require a VEP, on top of being subject to the RM20 road charge.
The VEP will cost RM25 and be valid for five years. -- BERNAMA