PAGOH — Malaysia's Road Transport Department (RTD) has deferred the implementation of the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) scheme on all foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia as many Singapore-registered vehicles still do not have the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tag.

The move will mostly affect outbound traffic at Johor’s two main land checkpoints, at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) in Johor Bahru and also the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) in Gelang Patah.

RTD director-general Shaharuddin Khalid said based on the department’s record, more than 230,000 Singapore-registered vehicles have registered for the VEP but only 60,000 have had the VEP-RFID fitted.

“We (the department) will be targeting to get the remainder 170,000 Singapore-registered vehicles to install the VEP-RFID within the first six months of this year,” said Mr Shaharuddin. He was officiating the department’s RTD Station in the south-bound Pagoh stretch of the North-South Expressway in Malaysia.

Also present was highway operator Plus Malaysia's managing director Datuk Azman Ismail.

Mr Shaharuddin said most Singapore-registered vehicle owners know the importance of registering for the VEP-RFID when entering Malaysia.

In September last year, Malaysia's Transport Ministry had agreed to defer the enforcement of the VEP on all outbound traffic at both Johor's BSI and KSAB until further notice.

This decision was made after several issues, related to the VEP implementation, were made known to the ministry. This includes difficulties with getting appointment for the VEP-RFID Tag installation.

In 2017, it was announced that foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia would need a VEP as part of the country's efforts to tackle car theft and the cloning of syndicates, as well as to prevent vehicles with outstanding fines from leaving. MALAY MAIL