In case you are living under a rock, it was announced in 2017 that foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia would need a VEP as part of the country’s efforts to tackle certain problems.
These include car theft, the cloning of syndicates, as well as the issue of vehicles with outstanding fine leaving the country.
With the implementation of VEP, there needs to be time for Singaporean vehicle owners to prepare for it. Hence, Malaysia is now deferring VEP for another six months.
Malaysia Defers VEP for 6 Months as Many Singapore Registered Cars Still Without RFID Tag
Malaysia’s Road Transport Department (RTD) has deferred the implementation of the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) scheme on all foreign-registered vehicles entering Malaysia.
This is done so, as many Singapore-registered vehicles still do not have the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Tag.
Outbound traffic at Johor’s two main land checkpoints will be affected. The two checkpoints are the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) in Johor Bahru and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) in Gelang Patah.
According to the RTD director-general Shaharuddin Khalid, the department’s record stated that more than 230,000 Singapore-registered vehicles have registered for the VEP but only 60,000 have had the VEP-RFID fitted.
He also added that most Singapore-registered vehicle owners know the importance of registering for the VEP-RFID when entering Malaysia.
Hence, 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.
VEP Implementation Issues
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 as there were several issues related to the VEP implementation made known to the ministry.
Commuters from Singapore were having difficulties getting an appointment for the VEP-RFID Tag installation. On top of the long waiting times, there were not enough slots to go around.
Hence, the ministry will be opening an additional RFID centre at Sultan Abu Bakar Complex, along with the existing ones at Gelang Patah Southbound RnR, Plaza Angsana open car park, Pandan RnR and Lima Kedai Toll Plaza.
Hopefully, this will solve the problem and all Singaporean vehicles will be able to obtain their VEP-RFID Tag installation.
