Swift KLIA clearance.

Date: 2 February 2013

Swift KLIA clearance.

SMOOTH PASSAGE: Immigration Dept acts on PM’s advice.

That’s the amount of time travellers will have to spend once they hand over their passports to be processed at the Immigration clearance counters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The initiative, which took effect yesterday, to cut the waiting time for air travellers is to address long queues during peak hours and set a maximum 10 minutes wait for those lining up at the counters.

The implementation of the 10-minute clearance system follows an advice from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the Immigration Department to improve the quality of service and to give a positive image of the country to the international community.

Immigration director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said the last person in the queue would not have to wait for more than 10 minutes as the process to clear a passport would take only 45 seconds. In the past, it could take up to an hour during peak periods before passengers were cleared.

Alias said the department had opened all counters to allow for faster service. "We have 104 counters for check-ins and check-outs and all counters will be opened during peak hours," he said at KLIA yesterday.

The department, Alias said, had also cordoned off a section for foreign workers, who would be checked in by their employers. He said should any problem arise with the workers and their documents, it would not affect other travellers. He said rope-partitions had also been set up to make a "snake-queue", that would prevent syndicates from timing their arrivals and departures.

"It's easier to track them and we also make sure that our officers are present to monitor the situation at the counters at all times," he said, adding that although passport clearance would be done fast, the security aspect would not be compromised. "We have a list of names that are blacklisted and included in the biometric system."

The department had recruited 176 more officers.

By AISYAH SULAIMAN news@nst.com.my 

Additional reporting by Hana Naz Harun

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