Thursday, September 3, 2015

Registration period for Singapore vehicles entering Malaysia extended to Oct 1

Registration period for Singapore vehicles entering Malaysia extended to Oct 1

Malaysian authorities have extended the registration period for the Vehicle Entry Permit to Oct 1 to give more motorists the chance to register their vehicles as well as to enable the delivery of Radio Frequency Identification cards and approval by the authorities in both countries.

Only 45,000 Singapore vehicles have registered for the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) levied on foreign cars entering Malaysia, according to Malaysian authorities.

VEP registration has now been extended to Oct 1 to enable the delivery of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards and approval by the authorities in both countries.

State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Hasni Mohammad admitted that the VEP registration system still needed some improvement.

"Only 45,000 foreign vehicles have registered for the VEP compared to the expected 500,000 vehicles," he said after visiting the VEP registration counter at Sultan Iskandar building on Tuesday (Sep 1). "The two weeks starting Aug 15 did not allow all the foreign vehicles to be registered online or over the counter."

Since Aug 15, motorists could register online and pay a RM10 (S$3.35) fee for a five-year period before the Road Transport Department (RTD) issued RFID cards. Once registered, the vehicles would be allowed to enter Johor free of charge for one month from Sep 1 to Sep 30. Motorists will have to pay RM20 for VEP for each entry from Oct 1.

"It is not just to provide comfort to those who have registered but also to ensure that all the rules and regulations are adhered to," Mr Hasni said. He said as many as 200,000 to 230,000 vehicles of various types went through the two checkpoints weekly.

In August, Malaysia's Transport Ministry pushed back the start date of the VEP fee from Sep 1 to Oct 1.

The VEP is levied on all passenger vehicles (including MPVs and SUVs). Government vehicles, motorcycles, public buses and taxis are exempted from payment but still need to register with RTD.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

No comments: