SINGAPORE: The congestion at the Johor Causeway, especially during weekends, is being looked into while waiting for the Singapore-Johor Baru Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link project to be completed by 2026.

       A task force has been set up and mobilised to come up with solutions, Bernama quoted Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi as saying in a Facebook post, after visiting the RTS Woodlands North Terminus project site on Monday.

       Onn Hafiz, who was accompanied by Singapore Transport Minister S. Iswaran, said the setting up of the task force was a short-term solution to ease congestion.

       The land crossing between Johor and Singapore was reopened on April 1 after over two years of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

       According to reports, before the pandemic, over 300,000 Malaysians were estimated to cross the Johor Causeway every day, making it the busiest border crossing in the region.

       The three-day visit that began on April 17 is Onn Hafiz’s first official trip to the republic after being appointed Mentri Besar in March.

       He also expressed confidence that the modern transportation system, to be completed in the next four years, would be able to overcome congestion at the Johor Causeway.

       “I am also confident that when the RTS project is completed, it will bring economic benefits to the people and the state of Johor, especially Johor Baru,” he said.

       The RTS Link is a 4km rail service between the Singapore terminus at Woodlands North station and the Malaysia terminus at the Bukit Chagar station in Johor Baru.

       It has the capacity of ferrying up to 10,000 passengers per hour in each direction with a journey time of about five minutes between the two stations.