Foreign-registered vehicles will be charged for entry into Johor Baru

Foreign-registered vehicles bound for Johor Bahru from Singapore will have to pay RM20 (S$7.60) in vehicle entry permits (VEP) from the middle of next year, reported The Business Times.

This was in line with the announcement by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in July for the implementation of such a fee, the country's Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said on Saturday.

Malaysia is also mulling over similar charges for vehicles coming in from Thailand and Brunei. These will be announced once Johor's system is completed and running smoothly, he added. He did not say whether vehicles coming in from Indonesia's Kalimantan in Sabah and Sarawak would be similarly charged.

Singapore charges S$35 VEP a day for four-wheel vehicles entering the country, up from S$20 before August. Goods vehicles now pay S$40 a month, four times the old S$10 charge. The LTA had said that the fee increase was to ensure that the cost of owning and using foreign-registered vehicles in Singapore is commensurate with that of Singapore-registered vehicles.