Amid worsening traffic jams in JB, Congestion Action Committee introduced to oversee roadworks

SINGAPORE: Mr Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh, the chairman of the works, transportation, and infrastructure committee in Johor, announced recently that the state government has introduced a new committee aimed at managing all the roadworks in Johor Bahru.

The Johor Bahru Congestion Action Committee was started after numerous motorists complained of the terrible traffic conditions on a number of the main roads in JB over the past few months. In September, the perception that traffic in the city had grown worse than ever due to severe bottlenecks at several points. In the wake of the bad traffic jams, Mr Mohamad Fazli announced that the state government was looking into a task force to address the issue.

He noted then that high-profile projects such as the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link and the Gemas-Johor Bahru Electrified Double Track project, in addition to developing new industrial areas including Sedenak in Kulai have added to the already high-traffic in the city.

The RTS Link aims to ease congestion problems in the area and the path to making the link operational officials say will happen early in 2027.

Last month, Johor Bahru’s mayor, Datuk Mohd Noorazam Osman, said that not only has the Johor Bahru City Council received many complaints over the traffic situation, but he has also grown increasingly frustrated with it.

“Not only are they unhappy, but I, too, am frustrated with the traffic situation that has been getting from bad to worse,” Mr Mohd Noorazam said on Oct 3, adding that many cars registered in Singapore added to the volume of vehicles on JB roads.

On Nov 26, Mr Mohamad Fazli said, “The congestion in the previous month was caused by several factors – the main reason being the 142 road development and upgrading projects this year where all of the projects were done almost simultaneously.

Half of the projects were conducted by the Federal Government, the Public Works Department (JKR), and the local council.

There was also miscommunication between the three project owners, so we hope that with the introduction of this committee, this will not happen again for future development,” he told the press at the state assembly in Kota Iskandar.

In September, The Star reported that bad traffic congestion was causing people to stay indoors rather than drive around in JB. This situation had made life difficult for many of the city’s merchants, who were already affected by a weak ringgit this year.

Read also: 3 possible LRT lines identified in JB, but some Singaporeans express doubts  /TISG