Singapore to match Malaysia’s Causeway toll charges 'in due course'

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The Republic’s Causeway toll charges will be revised to match those set by Malaysia “in due course”, Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo said in Parliament on Tuesday (Sep 9).

Should Malaysia reduce or do away with the toll charges, Singapore will follow suit, she added.

The policy reflects the shared nature of the two crossings, where charges imposed by any one party will have an impact on both countries, Ms Teo said.

She added: "Without a matching policy, lower toll charges by one side may simply be offset by higher tolls levied by the other side. There is no assurance that toll charges foregone by one side will be translated into lower total charges which benefit motorists."

As to why the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) fee was raised, Ms Teo said it was because Singapore-registered vehicles were facing significantly higher costs due to factors such as the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) policy and higher vehicle taxes, and the objective of the VEP fee and Goods Vehicle Permit (GVP) fee is to equalise the cost of owning and using a foreign-registered vehicle in Singapore.

On Aug 1, Singapore raised the VEP fees for foreign-registered cars from S$20 to S$35 per day, and the GVP from S$10 to S$40 per calendar month.

Ms Teo noted that the GVP has been in place since the 1960s, and the VEP since the 1970s "I should point out that this is the first increase in the VEP fee in 20 years, the last being in 1994," she said.