Singaporeans with pending VEP applications won't face action at checkpoints, says Loke

JOHOR BARU: Singapore motorists whose Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) applications are still in progress will not face any action from the authorities at Johor’s land check points, says Anthony Loke.

The Transport Minister said the motorists would not be issued a notice as long as they have applied for the VEP.

“Once they have applied for the permit, their name will be in our system.

“Even if they have yet to receive their VEP radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, they will not be issued a notice because their application is still in progress,” he told reporters after visiting Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) Customs, Immigration and quarantine complex here today.

The minister also visited the outbound lanes at BSI to check on the VEP implementation.

Loke added that as of Sept 30, a total 112,658 VEP tags have been issued to Singapore-registered vehicles.

He added that 75,412 of the tags have been installed and activated while 37,246 have yet to be activated.

He added that many Singaporean motorists were compliant with the VEP, based on random checks at both of Johor’s checkpoints on Oct 1 and 2.

“We checked 678 cars randomly at BSI and Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (near the Second Link) and found 93% or 629 cars had applied for VEP.

“Only 50 notices were issued to motorists who have not applied for the permit at all.

“The notices serve as a reminder for them to apply for the permit as soon as possible to avoid action as the government will gradually introduce penalties in the future,” he added.

It was recently reported that all Singaporean foreign vehicles without a VEP can still enter Johor as usual after the enforcement kicked in on Oct 1.