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To lessen burden of VEP fees on motorists, govts need to talk

As expected, Malaysia will introduce its Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) fee, around the middle of next year. This is clearly tit for tat after Singapore increased its VEP fee in August from S$20 to S$35.

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Raymond Koh Bock Swi

As expected, Malaysia will introduce its Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) fee, around the middle of next year. This is clearly tit for tat after Singapore increased its VEP fee in August from S$20 to S$35.

In its defence, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority has clarified that its action, to compensate for the higher cost of car ownership here, would affect only one in 10 of the 13,000 Malaysian cars entering daily.

So, the extra daily revenue of about S$20,000 for Singapore is a pittance compared with the coming VEP fee of RM20 (S$7.56) for each of the 45,000 Singapore vehicles entering Malaysia daily, or more than S$300,000 daily.

Motorists from both countries are already suffering because Causeway tolls have increased — five-fold on our side. The revenue for both Malaysia and Singapore will swell, but the bulk of the monies are coming from Singaporean motorists.

Only a government-to-government negotiation can untangle this mess. To date, the authorities have done nothing to lessen the financial pain they have created for motorists.

If the situation remains the same, Singaporean motorists will just have to pay or reduce their travel to Malaysia (“S$7.55 VEP fee may prompt S’poreans to reduce Malaysia trips”; Dec 22).

Businesses on both sides would suffer, as service providers would also transfer the higher costs to consumers here. It is not a win-win situation and certainly not in the spirit of neighbourliness.

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