30% cut in Second Link toll charges

23 June 2010 , By Sun2Surf

Toll charges at the Second Link, one of two bridges linking Malaysia and Singapore, will be reduced by 30% from Aug 1, the governments of both countries decided today.

Users of the link, which bypasses Johor Baru city centre, pay toll twice, once on the Malaysian side and again when entering Singapore territory. The current toll for passenger cars is RM10.80 and S$4.60 respectively.

"We believe this decision is good news for Malaysians going to Singapore and Singaporeans coming to Malaysia," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at a joint press conference with his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak after a four-eye meeting at the Prime Minister's Department.

The Second Link (or Linkedua) was opened to traffic on Jan 2, 1998. Although its toll charges are much higher than that for the Causeway (RM2.90 for passenger cars on the Malaysian side; S$1.20 on the Singapore side), users can look forward to less congestion.

Aside from the toll rate announcement, both leaders discussed a proposal by Lee for a land swap to resolve the long-pending implementation of the points of agreement (POA) on Malayan Railway land in Singapore, and target reaching a deal by end of September.

Najib said: "We have agreed to study the matter and to meet again in three months time, after Hari Raya, to finalise the land swap decision.

"There are specifics which we have to look into; the overall concept was to swap the three plus three pieces of KTM land with parcels of land in Marina South and/or Ophir Rochor of equvalent value.

"So I have made the PM a proposal, laying out several variations for PM Lee to choose from. He has raised some issues which we are discussing. But as the PM says, we aim to solve this in three months," Najib said.

He said the discussion on the POA was "warm and welcoming" and there were no other issues discussed.

On a previous deal between the countries to jointly develop a parcel of KTM land that was struck at a leaders' retreat in Singapore less than a month ago, Najib said that plan remains.

That meeting had yielded a breakthrough in the deadlock on the POA signed in 1990. Both leaders had agreed to move the existing railway station from Tanjong Pagar to the Woodlands train checkpoint by July 1, 2011. They had also agreed to set up a joint venture company called M-S Pte Ltd to jointly develop the land that is left behind.

Malaysia will hold a 60% stake in that company.

Today's meeting focussed on six parcels of Malayan Railway land. The land - with one parcel each in Tanjong Pagar, Kranji and Woodlands and three in Bukit Timah - is said to worth billions of dollars, according to a report in Business Times, Singapore.

The report said Lee had suggested last month to obtain an updated valuation of the KTM land and to make an offer to Najib to swap the six land parcels for land of equivalent value in Marina South near the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort and/or the Ophir-Rochor area.

At today's meeting, Lee also presented Najib with a scratch post and a toy for Najib's new kitten which he bought recently at a fair.