No unusual congestion at Kedah border

BUKIT KAYU HITAM - Immigration service operations at the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex, here, is smooth without any unusual congestion.

Sinar Harian's survey found that the traffic flow at the national border exit gate at Bukit Kayu Hitam was smooth and that there were not too many vehicles from Malaysia going to Thailand in conjunction with school holidays and weekends.

ICQS Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration chief Rosli Issak said congestion usually occurs only during school holidays and weekends.

However, he said that congestion occurs at a standard rate and there were not many people at the border of Bukit Kayu Hitam.

"In the North, for example, Bukit Kayu Hitam, congestion occurs on school holidays, Sundays and public holidays. Normal days are really quiet. For example, today is also a holiday but (the situation) is smooth.

"However, the immigration department has set up a counter and there are additional officers. We have a Quick Response Team (QRT) to overcome the problem of congestion. So, the (immigration) counter has no problem (congestion)," he said when met at the Bukit Kayu Hitam ICQS Complex, here, on Tuesday.

Rosli said, about 8,000 to 10,000 people go in and out of Thailand on a normal day through the border gate.

"If it's on a busy day, it will reach 15,000 people going in and out a day. It's not a school holiday, the number will be less," he said.

He also said that the QRT team is always ready to deal with any congestion due to the increase in the number of Malaysians going to Thailand which is expected every school holiday season.

In addition, Rosli said, fast immigration service with a documentation process could be done within 35 seconds using the machine.

He added that the department opened eight counters and immigration services to ensure the documentation process ran smoothly.