By now, frequent Causeway crossers are used to the heavy human and vehicular traffic at the customs checkpoint.
This is despite the presence of automated gates at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex for the use of Malaysians.
However, the operations of some autogates will be suspended temporarily till 10 Nov.
Source: Saravana Rao on Facebook
As a result, travellers can expect to wait a longer time to clear customs.
In a Facebook post on Friday (14 Oct), the BSI CIQ Complex said replacement and installation works would be carried out on its autogates.
This will last more than three weeks, from Sunday (16 Oct) to 10 Nov.
Source: UKK BSI on Facebook
However, it appears that not all the autogates will be affected.
Those that are not involved in the works will be operating as usual for visitors who are Malaysian citizens, BSI said.
They didn’t specify the number of autogates affected or exactly how many will be in operation.
While the replacement and installation works are being carried out, travellers may also use manual counters as an alternative.
Source: wakpan on Flickr
Counters 1 to 4 will be for Malaysian citizens only.
Counter 5 is available for senior citizens, the disabled, pregnant women and Malaysian permanent residents (PRs).
The rest of the counters, from 6 to 18, are for all passports.
The suspension of some autogates will likely lead to more people using manual counters than usual, predicted Malaysia’s China Press.
Source: Ho Kim Chong on Facebook
This could result in travellers having to spend a longer time clearing customs.
Even before the suspension of autogates, long queues already formed at checkpoints during peak hours.
Hopefully, the autogates will resume operations on time to avoid creating even longer queues, considering the year-end holidays are coming up.
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Featured image adapted from Saravana Rao on Facebook and Ho Kim Chong on Facebook.
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