R12.1.

22

Report 2021

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA

Level 2, Highway Planning Unit, Ministry of Works
Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, 50580 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2771 4201 Fax: 03-2711 3975 Email : [email protected]
CONTENTS
1 WHAT ARE INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS?

2 ABOUT MALAYSIA

3 ABOUT ITS MALAYSIA

4 CURRENT STATUS

5 PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES

6 PROPOSED ACTION PLANS

7 CLOSING REMARKS
1 WHAT ARE INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS?

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) involves the use of

information and communications technologies in improving,
responding to, mitigating and/or solving various
transportation problems and issues. ITS applications and
solutions have wide ranging impacts in increasing safety, Why is ITS
security, reliability of journeys, in enhancing improved
decisions on journey times, routes and mode choices; as well important?
as the attendant impacts to reducing congestion, pollution and
losses in productivities. The spectrum of ITS applications is
therefore, by definition, exceedingly broad based and covers
World population has breached
latest advancements and emerging applications in areas such 7 billion. Private car ownership
as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IOT), 4th has topped 1 billion and is
Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0), Smart City developments,
Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs), connected and practically inelastic. Building
cooperative systems, among others. ITS is also necessarily more road space will only
embedded in any substantial discourse in the areas of big data
analytics, 6G communications, climate action, with specific
attract more traffic, resulting in
reference to COP 26 goals, and various advocacies for even greater gridlock. Among
sustainable mobility such as Mobility-as-a-Service (“MaaS) and the few alternatives available
resilient, livable developments.
towards sustainable mobility is
The importance and the need for embedding ITS in our
increasing reliance on ITS.
transport infrastructure grew in tandem with Malaysia’s
rapidly expanding highway networks, which started in early
1990’s. Recognising the increasingly significant role of ITS, a
Strategic Plan for ITS was formulated in 1999 by the Road
Engineering Association of Malaysia (REAM). This seminal
… ITS is an inescapable growth
work was subsequently followed-up with the ITS Master Plan industry…
Study and the National ITS System Architecture Study by the
Ministry of Works, Malaysia in the period 2003 to 2007. More
recently, the Ministry of Works completed and published the
Malaysian ITS Blueprint 2019-2023 which charts the way
forward for wider collaboration and integration for
development of ITS in Malaysia.

2 ABOUT MALAYSIA

Wikipedia lists Malaysia as the 66th largest country in the world by land area, at
329,847 sq. kms. The country’s two major land masses comprising Peninsular or West
Malaysia (comprising 11 states) and East Malaysia (comprising the 2 Borneo States of
Sabah and Sarawak) are separated by the South China Sea. Malaysia can be classified
as an upper middle-income country, with a GNI per capita of USD 10,580 (2020). This
essentially ranks Malaysia with the 3rd highest GNI per capita, after Singapore and
Brunei in the 10 member countries forming ASEAN.

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 Malaysia’s population of 32.67M, as at 2021, comprise 30M (citizens)
and 2.65M (non-citizens). The 3 largest ethnics groups making up 99%
of the population comprise Bumiputera (69,.8%), Chinese (22.4%) and
Indians (6.8%). About 75% of the population reside in urban centers,
with States of Selangor, Johor and Perak being the most populous,
drawing in about 50% of the total population in Peninsular Malaysia. In
terms of economic activities, evidenced by GDP contribution, the three
highest ranked States comprising Selangor, Johor, Penang and the
Early Adopters of
Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur account for over 70% of the country’s ITS
GDP.
“… Tolled roads and facilities tend
The high urbanization rate is exemplified in the Greater Klang Valley
to be early adopters of ITS
(“GKV”) with an estimated population of over 7M which, in many ways,
is identified as the cultural, financial and economic center for the
technology because of a desire to
country; an area that is roughly bounded by 50kms E-W and 40km N-S. add value. Toll highway concessions
It is noteworthy that about 2/3 of the number of tolled highways in have a need to show road users that
Malaysia serve the GKV; as well as the main urban rail system their facilities are somehow
comprising MRT, LRT, Monorail, ERL, and KTM commuter services. preferable to non-tolled options
and the use of technology and the
It is also in the GKV that the first ITS-focused, regional wide project was
perceived better traffic
commissioned. The project known as the Integrated Transport
Information System (“ITIS”) was completed in 2005 and remains to this
management and information
day as the primary hub for traffic monitoring, control, analytics and services become a compelling case
response for City Hall of Kuala Lumpur. The purpose built ITIS Transport against non-tolled public roads …”
management Center (“TMC”) was identified in the Malaysia ITS
Blueprint 2019-2030 for re-purposing into the National Intelligent
Transportation Management Centre (“NITMC”). The NITMC will serve
as a physical focal point for multi-agency, cross-jurisdictional
collaboration for all matters related to traffic control, management and
analytics.

Malaysia remains a “car-centric” nation with over 32M registered

vehicles (2020), with a significant portion being motorcycles (14.9M) in 2020. It is not
surprising that Malaysia has an extensive road network of over 250,000kms which are
largely paved and about 2,000 kms of tolled expressways. The catalyst for much of
the development of ITS in Malaysia had been the expansion of the tolled highway
network spanning over the past three decades, particularly in the areas of traffic
control and surveillance systems (TCSS) and electronic tolled collection systems (ETC)
and related technologies. The country achieved full ETC on all 31 privatized highways
across 177 toll plazas in 2017. More recently, PLUS, the largest tolled highway
concessionaire in Malaysia, announced plans to at least one RFID with ANPR toll lane
at all its toll plazas in 2022. The phased rollout of RFID for ETC is part of the
Government’s staged development towards multi-lane free flow, possibly as early as
2026.

The country also has an extensive rail network spanning about 1800kms, of which
close to 50% are electrified. With the intent to shift modal share towards greater
public transport use, significant investments in the rail network has over the last
several years out-paced investments in road infrastructure.

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 Since 2016, about RM 80B has been invested into the construction of MRT lines 1 and
2, extensions to two existing LRT lines, a new LRT 3. Additionally, a further RM 50B+
will be expended for the construction of the 660km ECRL linking the Kota Bahru on
the east coast to Port Klang on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and about RM
3.7B for the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link (“RTS”), both of which
are planned for completion in 2026. The 3rd MRT line for the GKV is currently being
planned with an estimated cost of RM 50B.

Concurrent with the greater emphasis towards public transport in recent years,
Iskandar Malaysia (“IM”), located in the State of Johor is working towards an
operationalised Bus Rapid Transit (“BRT”), with an emphasis on smart mobility,
starting from 2023-2024, and at an investment of about RM 2.6B. The IMBRT project,
recently rebranded as the Iskandar Rapid Transit (“IRT”), in its initial roll-out will span
51kms along 3 main routes, with a fleet of feeder services that eventually extends the
overall network coverage to about 2,000kms, including links to the JB-Gemas double
tracking and the RTS. It is envisaged that the trunk routes will be operated using 18m
Autonomous Rapid Transit System (”ART").

The total cost of these rail projects when completed will exceed RM 180B. In contrast,
the cost for construction of major on-going road projects such as the 2000km Pan-
Borneo Highway, 300km Central Spine Road, and the 233km West Coast Expressways
is about RM 27B; and no more than about RM 80B overall will likely be invested in
road infrastructure until 2030.

Apart of the trunked infrastructure of roads and rails; Malaysia via the 5-
year “Jalinan Digital Negara” (“JENDELA”) initiative has established a
national aspiration of achieving over 96% 4G coverage nationwide by 2022,
with over 80% of premises having access to gigabit speed broadband. As
ITS applications are underpinned by access to reliable, consistent, high-
speed, low latency communications, the successful roll-out of the JENDELA
programme, and with it, the expansion of nationwide 5G connectivity will
“… ITS is one of
help spur greater advancement, adoption and test-bedding of ITS the largest
applications. It is expected by 2025, there will be 100% 4G coverage in
populated areas, and availability of 5G broadband speeds of up to industries in the
100MBps, up from about 20-30 MBps typically from 4G networks.
world that few
people have
heard of …”
… Scott Belcher, President, ITS America

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3 ABOUT ITS MALAYSIA

The Road Engineering Association of Malaysia (“REAM”) was the driver and initiator
of ITS in Malaysia. In 2008, the Intelligent Transport Association of Malaysia (“ITS
Malaysia”) was established with a protem committee led by Y. Bhg. Dato’ Ir. Chua
Soon Poh, who was at the time the Director-General of the Malaysia Highway
Authority, before handing over the reins to the newly formed ITS Malaysia and its 1st
elected council in the same year. The founding President of ITS Malaysia was Y. Bhg.
Dato’. Ir. Hj. Mohamad B. Husin, who was also the Deputy Director-General (Business
Sector), Public Works Department, Malaysia. Dato’ Ir. Mohamad B. Husin continued
to serve for a second two-year term before retiring in 2012. 2008 was also the year
that ITS Malaysia organized the inaugural ITS Seminar which attracted over 400

participants.

Since 2012, the presidency of ITS Malaysia has been held by Datuk Seri’ Ir. Hj. Ismail
bin Md Salleh, who was the former Director-General of the Malaysia Highway
Authority. In recognition of Datuk Seri’ Ir. Ismail bin Md Salleh’s work and advocacy
for rational and systematic and transformational deployment of ITS in Malaysia since
the early and formative years of ITS in the region, he was awarded the ITS Asia Pacific
Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th ITS World Congress in Montreal
in 2017. The World Congress Hall of Fame Awards recognises the highest standards
in achievement from the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific in the high-tech
transportation community across the categories of Industry, Local Government and
Lifetime Achievement.

ITS Malaysia is an active participant in the annually held ITS Asia Pacific Forum and
Exhibition, and ITS World Congresses. In 2011, during the PIARC International
Seminar on ITS, which was attended by over 500 delegates with representations from
over 20 countries, MoUs were inked with ITS France, UK, New Zealand, Australia and
Taiwan.

In 2012, ITS Malaysia hosted the highly successful 12th ITS AP Forum and Exhibition
which drew-in 70 technical presentations and 11 country reports. Delegates had the
opportunity to listen to speakers from over 16 countries, with keynote presentations
from the Presidents of IT Japan, ITS America and Ertico (ITS-Europe). The event also
provided a showcase for over 50 exhibitors for their ITS products and services for the

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 800+ delegates. This was the 2nd time Malaysia has hosted the ITS AP Forum after a
gap of 13 years (3rd ITS AP Forum, 1999).

In 2017, ITS Malaysia hosted an international seminar with the clarion call for a pivotal
change in ITS – themed “Driving ITS to a New Normal”. It was almost foretelling that
2 years after that event, we were faced with a global pandemic which called a ‘new
normal” in our daily lives. The keynote address for the 2017 International Seminar
was made by the Chief Secretary of the nation, Y.B. Tan Sri Dr. Ali bin Hamsa, who
delivered a stern message for greater cooperation between public, private and
academia; particularly to break data silos and to get the nation back on-track to meet
the challenges of the new digital age. It was at this event that the Ministry of Works
was tasked with the job of drafting the National ITS Blueprint.

Over the last 2 years of the pandemic, ITS Malaysia has continued with joint virtual
activities, via various webinars. In 2021, the collaborations with ITS Canada and UK
were renewed, via separate events, which involved joint 2-day webinars; as well as
participation in other ITS AP member activities such as Taiwan, Singapore and
Indonesia.

In 2022, ITS Malaysia looks towards hosting an international ITS Symposium focusing
on the harmonization of ITS applications and deployments. The symposium will
hopefully be a step towards partial re-normalisation of physical meetings,
interactions and networking among ITS professionals, researchers, practitioners and
from associated special interest groups.

ITS Malaysia, as of 2021, has 286 individual members and 34 corporate members,
which is governed by a Council comprising 4 office bearers, 11 elected members, and
6 co-opted members. Members of the Council are drawn from Government, private
4 sector, and academia. ITS Malaysia is also part of a grouping of 11 member countries
forming ITS Asia-Pacific, with ITS Japan, as secretariat. ITS Malaysia participates in
various international collaborations, and more particularly, at the annual ITS Asia-
Pacific Forums, and ITS World Congresses.

CURRENT STATUS

ITS Strategic Plan

In 1999, the Government of Malaysia endorsed the ITS Strategic Plan as a guide for
the development and deployment of ITS in Malaysia. The Strategic Plan, developed
by the Road Engineering Association of Malaysia (REAM), was presented at the 3rd ITS
Asia-Pacific Forum held in Kuala Lumpur. Among the catalysts for the plan were the
mandatory implementation of Traffic Control and Surveillance systems by the
Malaysia Highway Authority (in 1994) and the increasing numbers of new tolled
highways. It was also during this period that the number of privatized toll
concessionaires had increased to a point where inter-operability of ETC systems were
becoming a matter of concern. The completion of a JICA Study on the Integrated

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 Transport Information System for the Klang Valley and Multi-Media Super Corridor
helped establish greater awareness and mainstreaming of ITS into local context.

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 ITS Master Plan
The ITS Master Plan progresses the groundwork of the ITS Strategic
Plan and helped establish in greater detail the key strategies, direction
and framework for the development and deployment of ITS in
Malaysia. The Master Plan identified among others, a structured
deployment programme for various priority ITS strategic projects in key
sectors such as Advanced Traffic Management System, Advanced
Traveler Information System, Advanced Public Transport Systems,
Commercial Vehicle Operations, Safety Systems, Electronic Payment
Formation of ITS
Systems, Advanced Vehicle Control Systems, Emergency Management Malaysia
Systems and Information Warehousing Systems.
One of the key recommendations of
the ITS Master Plan was to establish
a National ITS Association. In 2006,
the pro-tem committee for ITS
Evolution from a Single ETC System Malaysia was formed, and in 2008,
ITS Malaysia held its 1st AGM and
By 2001, Malaysia had two competing Electronic Toll Collection (“ETC”)
systems based on DSRC and IR technologies. With more tolled
election of Council members.
expressways coming into operation, it became critical for the
Government to provide direction for consolidation into single ETC
system; failing which users were faced with the impractical prospect of
having multiple on-board units or tags for different tolled highways.
A decision to go with the IR system was made in 2003 and by 2004 the
Touch ‘n Go card and SmartTAG were synonymous with ETC in
Malaysia, providing nationwide inter-operability for all tolled
concessionaires in the country. ETC penetration has since exceeded
60% of toll users in the country with an installed base of over 1,200 toll
lanes across 30 tolled highways; including 7 toll plazas operating at full
100% ETC mode.

To this day, Touch n’ Go is the sole ETC “operator” for all tolled
highways in Malaysia, and the Touch ‘n Go card is accepted for all major
transport in GKV. It has expanded its operations to include RFID linked payments,
parking, and e-wallet retail payments. In 2019, it ranked only second to GrabPay as
having the highest number registered users (6.8 million) and 120,000 merchants.
Touch ‘n Go and Touch ‘n Go eWallet are under TNG Digital Sdn Bhd, a joint venture
between Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd and China’s Ant Group. As such the fintech leverages
on Alibaba Cloud’s distributed computing, AI/ML technologies and with potential
deeper integration into the Alipay system.

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 Integrated Transport Information System

In 2001-2002, the Government via City Hall Kuala Lumpur embarked on a pilot ITS
project to manage traffic congestion along major key roadway corridors in the Klang
Valley. The Integrated Transport Information System (“ITIS”), budgeted at USD 100M,
was completed in stages in 2004 and was fully handed over in 2005 under a design-
build contract. Key objectives of the system are the early detection of disruptive
traffic incidents and, in collaboration with first responders, to clear the blockages so
that normal traffic flows can be restored expediently. The system operates 140
variable message signboards (VMS) and a wide array of automated traffic counters to
provide a real time view of the overall traffic network. The system leverages heavily
on Advanced Traffic Management and Advanced Traveller Information services as
platform technologies.

In 2012 ITIS was revitalised and upgraded in tandem with changes in technology and
systems. ITIS 2.0 was hence conceived, but this time, was let out under a six-year
USD 70M leasing scheme whereby the payments are made only for equipment that
are LIVE under a strict key performance index (KPI) regime supervised by City Hall
Kuala Lumpur.

In 2020, there were announcements that Kuala Lumpur City Hall and the Malaysia
Digital Economy Corporation (“MDEC”) would be collaborating with China’s Alibaba
on its cloud computing infrastructure for various intelligent traffic management
applications. The project was dubbed “City Brain”, and would use various data from
ITIS for big data analytics, Machine-learning and AI, for real time analysis, traffic
demand forecasting and improved traffic control and management.

The purpose built ITIS Transport management Center (“TMC”) was also identified in
the Malaysia ITS Blueprint 2019-2030 for re-purposing into the National Intelligent
Transportation Management Centre (“NITMC”). The NITMC will serve as a physical
focal point for multi-agency, cross-jurisdictional collaboration for all matters related
to traffic control, management and analytics.

Despite being a relatively aged development that was conceived in 2001, ITIS, under
the astute management of Kuala Lumpur City Hall, has continued to successfully
evolve and keep relatively close pace with latest ITS advances, and remains a key test
bed for many emerging ITS applications.

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 ITS Systems Architecture
The ITS System Architecture Study was a progression of the ITS Master Plan that as
completed in 2003. The System Architecture study, completed in 2006 was intended
to provide a unified framework for the coordinated deployment of ITS in Malaysia by
providing detailed descriptions of interactions between travelers, vehicles, roadside
devices and control centers. The Architecture also described the information and
communication requirements, the data structures to be shared between interacting
systems, and the standards required for data exchange.

Arguably, the complexity of the Study, particularly at a level where executive

stakeholder understanding and engagement was needed, made it difficult for wide
adoption. Notwithstanding, many of the elements of the architecture remains
relevant despite competing technologies, standards and new advancements, and
there are opportunities to renew the architecture to help harmonise and provide
direction for new ITS deployments in the country.

SMART (Storm Water Management and

Road Tunnel)

The world’s first combined storm water management and road tunnel (SMART) was
completed in 2007; and has since become of Malaysia’s finest engineering showcase
to-date. The project was featured in Discovery Channel’s Extreme Engineering, and
ITS was innovatively deployed for the 5km motorway tunnel linking the city center
with the southern gateway, including a 9.7km stormwater tunnel. SMART is also
equipped with a state-of-the-art operations control room with the latest systems in
operations management, surveillance and maintenance.

Recently, in Dec 2021, the SMART tunnel was instrumental in preventing a more
catastrophic flooding in Kuala Lumpur when it diverted a record 5 million cubic
meters of flood waters out of the city center, over a period of 22 hours.

Malaysia Highway Authority and

Implementation of the Multi-Lane Free
Flow System

The Malaysia Highway Authority (“MHA”), established in 1980, is a statutory body

under the Ministry of Works that is charged with the responsibility for regulating,

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 supervising and monitoring all tolled highways and expressways in Malaysia. In
relation to ITS, it has traditionally focussed on ATMS / TCSS, ATIS, EMS and ETC.

The MHA also operates its own Traffic Monitoring Center (TMC) which is linked to
various toll concessionaires. Via the MHA TMC, various integrated services related to
traffic advisory and information will be rolled-out to road users.

MHA’s TMC, established in 2007, collates and coordinates traffic information for
various toll operations at a national and regional level. As the regulator of tolled
highways, MHA also underpins the scoping and specification for ITS related works
including traffic control and surveillance systems and toll collection systems.

In early 2021, the MHA published its Strategic Plan for the period 2021 to 2025.
Among various improvement and digitalization measures, the plan enunciates a
staged target for all toll plazas to be 50% RFID by 2023 and 100% RFID by 2025. The
100% target rollout of RFID is a precursor to the implementation of multi-lane free
flow. Proof of concepts are currently being undertaken at selected toll plazas in the
GKV. The timing and changeover from the present toll barrier-system to a full MLFF
system is dictated primarily by commercial, enforcement and policy issues.

Although there has been a protracted period for its implementation, with the 1st POCs
done in 2008, there have been notable progress including in the achievement of 100%
ETC operations in 2017, which was promptly followed-up with new pilots with RFID
tolled lanes in 2020. It is expected that all toll plazas will have at least one RFID lane
by 2022.

PLUS Traffic Monitoring Center

PLUS is Asia’s largest public listed tolled expressway operator; with close to 1000kms
of tolled expressway in Malaysia alone. The PLUS TMC was commissioned in 2009 and
has over the years, been expanded and imbued with newer technologies. The TMC
operates 24x7 to provide traffic and incident reporting, and driver assistance.

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 The PLUS TMC manages over 2600 CCTVs, 900+ emergency telephone systems, as
well as coordinates with the response teams, 1-800 calls, social media feeds, and
MERS 999, among others. It has been reported that the TMC manages over 1500 calls
on normal days which escalates to 3000 calls during festive periods when the
highways cope with exodus of traffic out of the cities, and an average of 35 accidents
and 500 vehicles breakdowns requiring attendance daily.

A significant revamp of the TMC was started in 2019, via an initiative called “PLUSOne”
to automate and consolidate various data streams into a data lake for which AI / ML
would be applied for improved customer response and user experience. An AI
program that uses natural language processing, called “PUTRI” was operationalized
in 2019 to ensure calls are responded to quickly and, where appropriate, are directed
to manned operators for faster attendance to emergency situations.

The PLUSOne initiative included the establishment of a new dynamic IP based, high-
resolution, video wall system that provided enhanced dashboard cues for operators.
The road to digitalization, including applications using unmanned aerial dones, weigh-
in-motion systems and using LIDAR to detect oversized vehicles, with the TMC as the
nexus, continues as PLUS looks at deeper data driven decision making based on big
data analytics coupled with AI/ML technologies.

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 Integrated Transport Terminals (ITT)
The ITT is a new generation of high-tech multi-modal integrated transport terminals.
The ITT in Bandar Tasek Selatan commenced operations in 2011 and serves buses
plying the southern connectors to the city. The ITT also serves as a main interchange
for heavy rail, commuter and express rail, and light rapid transit systems. Various
applications in ITS enables the use of an integrated ticketing system and bus arrival
information in enhancing passenger comfort and security.

Establishment of Special ITS Unit, Public

Works Department
In recognition of the increasingly pervasive deployments of ITS in Malaysia, the Public
Works Department has formed a special unit to provide oversight of ITS development,
scoping, planning and integration with relevant and impacted projects under the
Highway Planning Unit, Ministry of Works Malaysia. This is an important first step
towards greater harmonization of forward planning, execution, management and
operations of ITS components in various state and national level projects.

Automatic Enforcement System

The ITS Master Plan identified Intelligent Enforcement as a way to help the various
agencies to enforce road and traffic regulations without the need to deploy valuable
human resources to the field. The Automated Enforcement System (“AES”), with a
target installation of over 800 AES camera sites, deployed via a privatisation model
under the Road Transport Department, commenced in 2012 with the objective for
stronger, more effective and consistent enforcement to help reduce road accidents.
The RM 700M private-financed initiated AES was however soon halted in 2013 due
to public concerns over the privatisation framework.

Since 2018, the operations, maintenance and enforcement of AES, now

called the Automated Awareness Safety System (“AWAS”), has been under
the purview of the Road Transport Department (“JPJ”) under the Ministry of
Transport. The Malaysia Institute of Road Safety and Research (“MIROS”)
works with JPJ and PDRM to use their database of accident prone locations
in determining suitable locations for AWAS cameras and in monitoring the
effectiveness of the system. It is understood that system currently comprise
29 speed detection cameras along highways and 16 red light cameras.

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 Google, Moovit and PULSE for GKV

Google (Malaysia) launched their traffic maps for the Klang Valley in May 2012,
followed closely by launches for Penang, Ipoh and Melaka in December 2012; and
Johor Baru in October 2013. Google traffic’s crowd-sourced data from Android
smartphones, among other sources, superseded the congestion map developed for
Kuala Lumpur under the ITIS programme in 2005 using fixed road based traffic
counters and detectors.

In 2013, Google acquired WAZE, a social mapping location start-up. By 2013, Waze
had already chalked up 1.5 million users in Malaysia (out of 50 million worldwide),
making us the largest Waze community in the Asia Pacific region and among the top
15 countries among 200 countries that has a Waze presence.

In 2020 Rapid Bus Sdn Bhd (“Rapid Bus”), which operates Rapid KL, Go KL and SMART
Selangor buses, announced a data sharing arrangement with the Google Maps
application bringing real time bus data information into a more complete multi-modal
trip planning. Rapid Bus is the largest bus operator in Malaysia with its operations
mainly in the GKV, Penang and in Kuantan. It operates a fleet of about 1400 buses
with an annual ridership of about 380,000+ per day (Oct 2021), reportedly a decline
of about 40% from 2020 and about 70% from the pre-pandemic level in 2019.

Rapid Bus and Rapid Rail (which operates the LRT, Monorail and MRT lines), are
wholly-owned subsidiaries of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (“Prasarana”). The twin bus
and rail operations of Rapid Bus and Rapid Rail are branded are “Rapid KL”.

A similar collaboration for data sharing was inked between Rapid KL and Moovit, an
Intel-owned Mobility as a Service solutions provider in Aug 2020.

Interestingly, Prasarana has also since launched its own journey planner app called
PULSE which provides info on the status of each service and the estimated time of
arrival (ETA), based on the real-time location of buses and trains.

The collaboration between Prasarana via Rapid KL

and Google and Moovit is a potential catalyst and
pivot point for wider (open) data sharing among
public transport operators. In 2022, a pilot project
under the sponsorship of MIGHT, working in
collaboration with Prasarana, will target at expanding
the network of non-Prasarana routes and services in
the GKV with the aspiration to provide a more holistic
journey planning app that could include micro-
mobility services. This effort recognises that there
remains a significant lack of information and
fragmentation of services in non-Prasarana serviced
routes, which, by some estimates could be roughly
equal to Prasarana serviced routes.

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 Performance Monitoring Hub System
The Land Public Transport Commission (LPTC) was set up in June 2010 with the goal
of ensuring that the people have access to reliable, efficient, integrated and safe
public transport. LPTC, renamed as APAD, helped develop the National Land Public
Transport Master Plan which provides a long term programme to address the current
deterioration in public transport with plans to execute high impact, effective delivery
initiatives for 20-year sustainable quality public transport service for the nation. It is
the goal of public transport to drive forward the ambition of Vision 2020 and
1Malaysia. These have the vision for Malaysia to achieve industrialized and fully
developed nation status by sustaining growth of 7% per annum. It is expected that
ITS and in particular Advanced Public Transport Systems (APTS) will play a large role
in the roll-out of such future services and capabilities. Presently LPTC is embarking
on the deployment of a Performance Monitoring Hub whereby stage buses would be
fitted with the GPS for real time tracking and monitoring of bus services; including the
delivery of ETA information at key stops.

National Transport Policy 2019-2030

A country’s transport infrastructure is often expressed as being the economic
backbone or lifeline of a nation. As such national transport policies typically
establishes the agenda, vision, direction, priorities and/or roadmap to move the
country forward to meet emerging challenges that needs to be addressed in the
immediate, near and long term.

Malaysia’s National Transport Policy 2019-2030 (“NTP

2030”) was formally launched in 2019 on the basis of 5
policy thrusts and 23 strategies. The five policy thrusts aim
to:

• Strengthen the governance to create a conducive

environment for the transport sector;
• Optimize, build & maintain transport
Infrastructure, services and networks for
efficiency;
• Enhance safety, integration, connectivity &
accessibility for seamless journey
• Advance towards green transport ecosystem; and
• Expand global footprint and promote
internationalization of transport services.

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 The NTP 2030 looks, among others, at addressing basic issues such as the fact that
Malaysians spend a significant portion of their disposable income on transportation
compared with other countries and that traffic congestion is a drag to the GDP.

The policies takes cognizance of, and seeks to align with the following key trends:
• Growing and increasingly ageing population, projected to be 9% by 2030;
• Increasing urbanization, projected to reach 80% by 2030;
• Advances in real time information and digitalization, particularly with a focus
on trends towards shared mobility services and e-hailing paltforms;
• Expansion of e-commerce market;
• Shift towards environmentally sustainable transport, as reflected in the
trend towards de-carbonisation of the transport system, in particular
adoption of EV and next-gen vehicles;
• Move towards bigger vessels, consolidation and containerization;
• Increasing passenger travel and impact of Low Cost Carriers; and
• Proliferation of new technology, such as in the areas of CAVs, AI/ML. IR4.0,
IoT, cloud computing, etc.

The NTP is an aspirational document which advocates for greater alignment and
coordination between different policies and guidelines from different Ministeries and
a greater adoption of public transport, with a goal of public transport modal share of
40% by 2030, as compared to the 20% present day modal share.

Malaysia ITS Blueprint 2019-2023

The idea for the ITS Blueprint was initiated during the keynote address for the 2017
International Seminar (organized by ITS Malaysia), by the Chief Secretary of the
nation, Y.B. Tan Sri Dr. Ali bin Hamsa. It was at this event that the Ministry of Works
was tasked with the job of drafting the National ITS Blueprint. The ITS Blueprint was
the culmination of a two year effort that involved broad engagement with many
dialogues and engagement with various public agencies, industry and academia. The
ITS Blueprint establishes 4 strategic pillar, and 11 focus areas underpin by 5 main
foundations.

15
 The 5 key action plans integral to the ITS Blueprint relate to the establishment of a
National Intelligent Transportation Management Centre (“NITMC”), and with it, the
concept of Data Centre as a Service (“DCaaS”), staged development of the multi-lane
free flow system for tolled highways, weigh-in-motion, speed enforcement and on-
board unit (“OBU”) based fleet management.

The NITMC is envisaged to be a multi-agency collaborative framework, similar to the

previous coordinated “blue ocean strategy” adopted by City Hall Kuala Lumpur in
resolving a wide spectrum of daily traffic management issues at cross-jurisdictional
boundaries. The NITMC, once operationalized, will be an important cogwheel to the
National Disaster Management Agency (“NADMA”) as well with other traffic control
and management centers spread across various highways, local authorities, and
agencies.

The multi-lane free flow system is part of the MHA’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025 with a
target for 100% RFID at all toll plazas by 2025. Malaysian company, Green Packet Bhd
together with Taiwan’s FETC International (“FETCi”) expect to commence proof-of-
concept (“POC”) of a barrier-free, gantry based MLFF at the Besraya Highway in the
GKV in 2022. The start of POC, albeit on a simpler open toll system, will be an
important technical milestone towards understanding real world field challenges
such as RFID detection and transaction reliability, capacity and speeds under different
conditions, stability of low latency communications, and accuracy of ANPR that can
meet MHA’s requirements. Issues related to operations, financial, legal and
enforcement that require multiple stakeholders with different concession
agreements, to a common platform; as well as the changeover from the existing ETC
system, will be continuing challenges that will need to be resolved.

Overloading of heavy vehicles, as well as over-sized loads, is a bane to Malaysian

roads resulting in significant pavement damage and pavement life and consequently
high cost of repair and maintenance, as well as closure of traffic during such works.
Overloaded and/or over-sized loads are also a danger and a hazard to other road
users. Weigh-in-motion (“WIM”) systems are intended to capture axle weights and
gross vehicle weights (“GVW”) installed on trafficked lanes. WIM data, combined
with ANPR, can be used to automatically red-flag potential violations that can then

16
 be directed to an off-site weighing station, without disruption to regular traffic. The
use of WIM is also part of the extended services under the PLUS TMC transformation
programme.

The expansion of the existing AWAS for wider speed enforcement across the country,
as well as the OBU on commercial vehicles that link-up to various regulatory, licensing
and monitoring agencies also expressed ambitions of the ITS Blueprint to be
progressed by 2023.

National Automotive Policy 2020

The National Automotive Policy 2020 (“NAP 2020”) is a follow-up to the NAP 2014.
NAP 2020 aims to make Malaysia become a regional leader in automotive engineering
and manufacturing with deeper focus on Next Generation Vehicles (“NxGV”),
Mobility as a Service (“MaaS”) and Industrial Revolution (“IR 4.0”).

NP 2020 envisages market availability of NxGV, classified

as energy-efficient vehicles (“EEV”) that are equipped with
a minimum of Level 3 vehicle automation, by 2025. MaaS
is a concept that integrates various types of services and
transport modes into one centralized service through a
digital platform. This includes private and public transport
journey planning, micro-mobility, ride-sharing, and
payment systems on a single platform. This is envisaged
to be a paradigm shift away from car ownership towards
a system of shared resources. IR 4.0 is encapsulated in the
(2018) National Policy on Industry 4.0, enunciated by the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (“MITI”), in
the (2020) Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint by the
Economic Planning Unit (“EPU”), Prime Minister’s Office,
and more recently National 4IR Policy (2021) with the
common objective of transforming the country into a high
income, high growth nation underpinned by technology
and digitalization.

NAP 2020 establishes 3 directional thrusts (technology and engineering, investment

and market expansion), 3 strategies (value chain development, human capital
development, safety and environment), 4 roadmaps (value chain, technology, talent
and aftermarket in automotive and mobility) and 3 blueprints (Mobility as a Service,
Robotics and IoT in automotive).

17
 5G Roll-Out
At the start of the pandemic in 2019, various Movement Control Orders (“MCO”)
compelled many to work (virtually) from home; including remote schooling. During
this period, internet traffic in Malaysia increased by 30-70%, with internet usage
shifting to residential homes by 50 to 70%. The high demand led to decrease in
internet speeds by 30-40% resulting in high customer dissatisfaction. Close to 90%
of the population are internet users, and the number of smartphones, at 98%, are
near saturation levels.

The major and rapid shift away from physical

workplaces and schools brought to light the digital
divide and an urgent need for new policies to
improve broadband connectivity for all. The Jalinan
Digital Negara (“Jendela”) plan, under the purview
of MCMC, was formulated in Aug 2020 to improve
the country’s digital connectivity and set the
nation’s foundation for 5G technology.

5G is seen as a “catalytic enabler” of Malaysia’s

digital transformation. An early testbed for 5G by
Telekom Malaysia (“TM”) was done in Langkawi in
2020. Subsequently, pilot roll-outs commenced in
2021 at selected locations in parts of Kuala Lumpur,
Putrajaya and Cyberjaya; with a target penetration
of 80% by 2024. The roll-out is part of the Malaysia
Digital Economy Blueprint (“MyDigital”), launched in
2021.

To this end, Digital Nasional Berhad (“DNB”) was subsequently established to deliver
on the outcomes of MyDigital including the roll-out of 5G, with DNB generally
envisaged as the sole entity owning the Single Wholesale Network (“SWN”); to design,
build, maintain the nation’s 5G infrastructure and 3GPP multi-operator core network.

DNB is formed under the Ministry of Finance but is regulated by the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission (“MCMC”).

The roll-out of 5G for is important to support next-generational connected ITS

applications in Malaysia; particularly in respect of traffic control and management
with data sourced from denser network of road sensors, visual analytics, and from
connected vehicles. The network will also faster scaling, denser detectorization of
traffic sensors in the road infrastructure which are important for various smart city
applications. The faster, more stable, low latency network promised by 5G will also
facilitate more efficient adoption of cloud infrastructure; which will also help
accelerate further investments into data centers in the country as well as smart city
development.

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 Smart Cities
The Malaysia Smart City Outlook 2021-2022 produced by the Malaysian Industry-
Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) shows Kuala Lumpur as being
ranked 54 on the Global Smart City Index 2020, and second, behind Singapore, among
ASEAN member countries.

MIGHT is a non-profit organisation under the purview of the Ministry of Science,

Technology and InnovaRon (MOSTI) and serves as a think-tank to build and drive
plaRorm public-private partnerships in various areas of science and technology. There
are 26 pilot smart city projects in the ASEAN Smart City Network (“ASCN”), of which
4 are in Malaysia, namely Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Iskandar
Malaysia. Additionally, there are smart city initiatives variously themed as
Georgetown Smart City, Shah Alam Intelligent City, Cyberjaya Low Carbon City,
Putrajaya Intelligent Garden City, Bandar Melaka Green Technology City and Iskandar
Malaysia Smart City, including community based, SDG-driven approaches such as the
Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya’s vision for “Vibrant City by 2030”.

Similar to ITS, navigating the smart city landscape in Malaysia can be challenging. At
the National Level, there is the Malaysia Smart City Framework, while strategies and
“blueprints” are published at different State and regional levels such as the Smart
Selangor Blueprint, Penang 2030, Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy, Smart City
Iskandar Malaysia. Local authorities such as Putrajaya has its own smart city blueprint
while Cyberjaya promulgates a smart low-carbon city.
Notwithstanding, “smart mobility” and “smart traffic
management” are common elements in the service and
systems layer, respectively, that underpins much of these
ambitions. Putrajaya’s Smart City Blueprint, for example
lays out the framework for applications in parking
guidance, traffic system and road safety, transit and traffic
information, smart bus stops, micro-mobility and next-gen
vehicles.

19
 Malaysia Institute of Road Safety and
Research
Malaysia’s track record on road safety has not been exemplary; and had at one time
(2014) been unenviably ranked as among the top 25 most dangerous countries for
road users in the world. With the country, mostly in a state of lockdown with
restrictions in inter-state and inter-district travel for last two years (2020 – 2021), the
number of road fatalities had reduced by about 25% in 2020, compared to the pre-
pandemic 2019 of 6167 fatalities.

The arduous work for the advocacy for improved road safety via R&D, education and
assistance with policy making is under the purview of the Malaysian Institute of Road
Safety Research (MIROS), an agency established in 2007, under the Ministry on
Transport Malaysia. Representation by MIROS in ITS Malaysia since its formative
years, underpins the significance and importance of ITS in road safety.

IN 2014, the ASEAN Transport Ministers had appointed MIROS as the ASEAN Road
Safety Centre. MIROS hosts the New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian
Countries (ASEAN NCAP), with its own crash lab located in Melaka, that assesses the
safety aspects of test vehicles based on a star-rated system. The assessment
protocols are periodically reviewed, with the latest (3rd) effected for the period 2021-
2025. Additionally, there are plans to build a 1-km test track, in the vicinity of the
Sepang International Circuit, to carry out autonomous emergency braking (“AEB”)
tests.

Malaysia Automotive Robotics and IoT

Institute
The Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii), an agency under the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry (“MITI”), has been taking an increasingly
pivotal role in ITS in Malaysia in recent years, particularly in the areas of connected
mobility, in the formulation of and consequently, the launch and execution of
National Automotive Policies in 2014 (NAP 2014) and the recently updated edition of
the policy, NAP 2020.

MARii works closely with all stakeholders to spur technology adoption, innovation
and capacity building for Malaysian businesses and talent within the automotive and
overall mobility sector, through the strategic policy research and deployment
technology programmes catered to various levels of business and social strata, in a
multitude of sectors such as advanced design, smart manufacturing, data sciences,
intelligent transport systems and Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS).

20
 Since its inception in 2020, MARii has played a key role in the development of
intelligent transportation, not only from a consumer awareness standpoint, but in the
various aspects of manufacturing, aftersales, product development and technology
adoption that contributes to intelligent transportation. As for the ITS, MARii acts as
the think tank not only to boost the development of Next Generation Vehicle (NxGV),
but also to enhance the adoption of technologies within the communication and
infrastructure (V2X), where it will connect most of the stakeholders within the scope
of transportation and communication.

Through the NAP, Malaysia has developed a formidable ecosystem of automotive

component suppliers and relevant talent, that are ready to take the next step into the
future automotive industry. The policy has established a roadmap towards the
holistic development of critical components, technologies and is adding to the
already rich infrastructure to accommodate design, smart manufacturing, and
component development through the various centers of excellence established by
the government over the last decade.

With connectivity at the heart of this transition, technologies such as manufacturing

execution systems, telematics, high performance cloud computing, big data
management, intelligent city management and many digital technologies were
developed within MARii's walls. As trends developed towards the fourth industrial
revolution, MARii also deployed numerous technologies to ensure industry access to
technologies such as additive manufacturing, simulations, big data analytics,
augmented reality, cloud computing and others.

At the same time, numerous Malaysian standards and regulations have been
established for next generation of vehicles (many more are currently under
development), to ensure that those vehicles that will be running are compliant with
global safety standards.

MARii spearheaded these efforts not only through its strategic research and policy
framework development capabilities, but implemented the development through its
various centers of excellence that include MARii Design Center, MARii Academy of
Technology, National Emission Test Center (NETC), MARii Simulation & Analysis
Center (MARSAC).

The agency's next undertaking is the development of Centre of Excellence for Future
Industry (CoeFI) where it will house the Electric Vehicle Interoperability Center (EVIC)
and Mobility Test Bed which will be the focal point for testing of various technologies
in the EV eco-system and Next Generation Vehicle (NxGV). The centre also will also
be having BDA Centre, Robotics Centre, and AI Park for catering the needs of future
industry.

The country’s 1st autonomous testing route, over a distance of about 7km, on public
roads was established in Cyberjaya in 2019, under a National Regulatory sandbox
initiative. The project, developed by Futurise (a wholly owned subsidiary of
Cyberview Sdn Bhd) involves various other agencies such as Sepang Municipal Council,
Road Transport Department Malaysia (“JPJ”, “MOT”), Land Public Transport Agency
(“APAD”), Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (“MIROS”), and Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia (ADC, UTM). eMoovit Technology Sdn Bhd (“eMoovit”) is the first

21
 company to receive approval to use the route for the testing of their autonomous car.
In April 2020, Celcom demonstrated a self-driving Proton Exora as part of a 5G
showcase.

MARii is also keenly involved in the greater adoption of EVs and in the country’s
preparation for the entire EV eco-system including, among others, power generation,
charging infrastructure and human capital development. In the Government’s
Budget 2022, tabled in Parliament in Oct 2021, buyers of EVs in 2022 will enjoy full
exemption of import duties, excise duties and sales tax, as well individual income tax
relief of up to RM2,500 on the cost of purchase, installation, rent, hire purchase as
well as subscription fees for EV charging facilities.

These incentives, if continued, will help spur increasing adoption of electric mobility
and seed new collaborations in this area. For example, in Aug 2021, SOCAR Mobility
Malaysia (SOCAR) and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) announced a joint collaboration
to leverage on shared data on electric vehicle (EV) usage in Malaysia. The
collaboration allows TNB to leverage on SOCAR’s data on vehicle usage and travel
behaviour to identify strategic locations along key travel routes for the installation of
charging infrastructure. This data would help plan the location, number and type of
chargers for installation, including direct current (DC) fast chargers.

In 2015, the Malaysian Green Technology Corporation (“Greentech Malaysia”)

published the National Electric Mobility Blueprint, that established a goal of 25,000
EV charging stations by 2020. As of 2021, it is estimated that are about 500 public
AC charging stations, and only a handful of DC fast charging stations. The slow start
may be pivoting to a faster pace with the incentives for EV in Budget 2022 and with
new entrants to the EV charging market space, such as EV Connection Sdn Bhd
(“EVC”), that would augment the ChargeEV network under Greentech Malaysia.

Global Future Cities Programme

The Global Future Cities Programme (“GFCP”), a part of the UK cross-government
Prosperity Fund, identified Iskandar Malaysia and Melaka as 2 of the 19 cities across
10 countries to be studied with the aim of promoting evidence based sustainable
development, specifically in the area of innovative, smart mobility projects. Mott
MacDonald (“MM”) appointed as the delivery partner and UN-Habitat as the global
strategic partner for the two year programme that started in 20920.

The MM team developed a Smart Integrated Mobility Management System

(“SIMMS”) for the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (“IRDA”), which is
envisaged to be a software platform that integrates static and real-time data
gathered from various sources including GIS, GTFS. traffic controls, and feeds from
multiple transport and transit operators. The objective of SIMMs is to improve data
driven decision making and use of big (transportation) data analytics to various
operational and strategic planning and for policy making; including a link to the
Iskandar Malaysia Urban Observatory (“IMUO”); and consequently an immediate
comparison of various metrics to the other (urban observatory) cities.

22
 In Melaka, a designated UNESCO Heritage City, the MM team is developing a Green
Bus Network (“GBN”) as part of the sustainable mobility. The GBN will be served by
a renewable energy-fuelled bus fleet and innovative public transport technologies,
such as smart traffic management and smart ticketing, including identification of
suitable locations for and the promotion of park and ride facilities.

Smart Selangor
The Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (“SSDU”), established in 2016, is an entity mandated
by the Selangor State government to spearhead the implementation of “smart
initiatives” with the objective of providing advanced solutions and technologies that
improve livability, economic productivity and environmental sustainability for the
State. The 4 key focal areas are “Smart Government”, “Smart Economy”, “Smart
Community”, and “Smart Digital Infrastructure”. Some of these initiatives include
establishment of a C5i operations center, advanced CCTV analytics, Intelligent Traffic
Management System, Smart Selangor parking, Selangor Smart Bus and Smart
Selangor Bus Stop, among others. The Smart Selangor Bus is a free bus service (except
for foreigners who pay a nominal fare) tracked by GPS, with real time journey
planning via the Moovit app or the Selangor Intelligent Transport System (“SITS”) app.

23
5 PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES

“… The ability of technology to

transform transportation systems
is well ahead of governments’
capability to utilise it … For
governments the big question is
how to deal with these rapid
changes … ”
Challenge # 1: Millennial Generation

This is the Millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000). We have
never before faced such vast disunion between public and private utlitisation of
technology.

Millennials adopt technology at a high rates. Smartphones are how they connect to
the world and if the device offers an application (of which there are many choices)
that they like, they will use it.

Public agencies are no longer in the dominant position of deciding how, when and
what technology will be used by the Millennials. Social media, smartphones and such
applications have completely disrupted the manner in which information is collected,
processed and disseminated. Public agencies no longer have the luxury of making
consumer decisions, and to some extent also lack similar ability to influence adoption.

What is needed is for Government to liberalise their data and to fund open data
streams so that application developers would be encouraged to find new innovative
ways to process and monetize such data. Competition drives innovation.

Challenge # 2: Obsolescence and Technology Disruptors

How do we implement public centered systems timely without suffering

obsolescence by the time they are deployed. A system that is being studied and
planned in 2015, scoped and specified in 2016, with bids invited in 2017 and rolled
out in 2018, or 2019 – a period of say 4 to 5 years after first being mooted can be
expected to be largely dated by the time the full system is implemented.

On the other hand, technology disruptors such as Google can completely make an
expensive public funded initiative obsolescent, redundant or unnecessary in far

24
 shorter time. This is the age of smart phones and wearable devices – both of which
have the capabilities to fast eclipse current in-vehicle technologies in the near future.

What is needed is a new model for public/private cooperation and/or procurement

that provides funding for regular technology refreshment so that Government, the
solutions provider and end-users can converge to shared outcomes.

The economics of transportation and how ITS plays a role in this is constrantly
changing. Government and industry should consider outsourcing models and other
means of achieving a lean cost efficient organizational structure and procurement
model – so that they are not bound by long term supply chain contracts and other
legacy obligations that can hinder their ability to transform and keep costs to
minimum.

Challenge # 3: Information Silos vs Unified Systems

Different agencies manage different siloed systems. There is significant work ahead
to reconcile and harmonise these disparate systems and databases into a common
back-end / data warehouse to a unified system so that the intelligent analytics and
be mined from such data – allowing for optimal planning and execution – and also
mitigation of overlapping efforts and costly unnecessary redundancies.

Challenge # 4: Smartphones / Wearables are the New Wallet

Harmonised transportation systems are inevitably underpinned by unified payment

systems – which can be leveraged for far more pervasive micro payments across a
wide spectrum of commercial activities.

An account-based (open payment) processing of toll and transit fares will be

fundamental shift at the macro level from prepayment where cash is collected before
travel. This shifts the intelligence from the card reader to the back office. The creation
of a validated customer account (at back-end) as opposed to an anonymous pre-paid
account 9deductions made at the front end) allows for a host of services to be made
available across different hardware and platforms and / or mobile devices. The shift
of intelligence to the back-end will also open up a wide range of opportunities – such
as payment of toll using smartphones, and cheaper and less complicated equipment
that needs to be deployed in the field.

Ref: http://www.itsinternational.com/sections/nafta/features/new-thinking-needed-on-the-transportation-front/

Challenge # 5: Plan and prepare for Change – Just don’t make predictions

We have no strong visibility as to where technology and adoption rates will trend in
the long term; over time horizons exceeding say 5 years. We can and should however,
plan for capacity and change; and this includes funding to innovate, educate and
inter-link and harmonise systems; and especially data – so that there can be
continuity in how data is ware-housed, migrated or integrated across different
platforms and mined for the future.

Government should:

• identify and plug gaps,

• provide an ITS vision that binds different agencies to shared outcomes (or
goals),
• liberalise and make available as much data streams as possible,

25
 • fund test-beds,
• encourage innovation (with some tolerance for “contained” failure),
• seed short to mid-term catalytic ITS projects that can help the industry move
incrementally to larger or up-sized ITS deployments.

Challenge # 6: Engaging the “Rakyat”

One of the key shortcomings by both private and public sectors is the lack of citizen
engagement and the often wide gap in interest between commercial gain and the
public good. This is the age of social media. One person’s complaint can rapidly
escalate to public outrage. The rules for public engagement are no longer the same.

The public and citizens expect to be engaged. They expect to be actively solicited for
feedback, inputs and suggestions – and usually via similar social media channels. They
expect to be heard and responded to before they buy-in to a private or public
initiative.

Challenge # 7: Too much time thinking; not enough doing

The industry and the Government have many shared aspirations in regards to ITS.
There is a strong desire to nurture, encourage participation and to expand ITS so that
we can compete with other “smart cities” in tandem with An expanding knowledge
based economy. However, there is a lack of coherence is the way these aspirations
are being actualized.

The industry is looking for commercial opportunities to launch new initiatives that
can plug a social need, for either a commercial profit or for strategic interests. The
Government is being looked to by industry for guidance, leadership and direction.
This may include providing a platform for data creation, supporting legislation,
standards, and perhaps seed funding for projects with view to upscaling upon success.

Industry is looking to Government to establish an ecosystem as well as an operating

and funding environment that allows ITS to take root. For example,

 articulating clear statement of needs or desired outcomes, e.g. what kind of

system or infrastructure is Government looking for that:

 that will save tax payer’s money;

 accelerate economic growth;
 spur new economic activities;
 encourage “migration” of knowledge workers to our cities, and their
retention?
 improve the quality of our lives – cleaner, safer, more “livable” and
healthier?

 defining the supporting legislation and enforcement for compliance for road
rules;

 articulate a total plan for the long term broad mobility options (car, bus, rail,
taxis, bikes, pedestrianisation etc) that Government will be investing or funding.

 defining transport equity funds or models where relevant

26
  establishment of a strategic plan to bind (and hormanise) different ITS related
databases and to liberalise specific data streams to allow private sector to plan
and design more innovative tools for real time information dissemination;

 establishment of one-stop agency to help cut through the myriad of competing

jurisdictional and related issues needed to actualize ITS projects.

 providing seed funding for ITS projects and test-bed applications and R&D.

 providing long term commitment and funding for replacing, renewing and inter-
locking aging legacy systems. It usually makes sense to tend and finetune an
imperfect but otherwise operational system than to allow it to deteriorate to
state of disuse, disrepair and disrepute; only to replace it with another system–
which reestablishes a vicious cycle of obsolescence and public incredulity.

 pulling different and disparate ITS deployments to an evolving demonstration

site to showcase “best of deployments”; and to provide a focal point that we can
all point to say there is where our future or vision lies.

 broadening outreach and public (citizen) engagement for strong buy-ins.

27
6 PROPOSED ACTION PLANS

“We cannot build our way out

of congestion”
The world of ITS is moving boldly ahead towards a ubiquitous future
of autonomous vehicles that self-drive based on vehicle to vehicle
(V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications.

In 2010, four electric autonomous vans successfully drove 8000 miles from Italy to
China. As of 2013, four U.S. states (Nevada, Florida, California and Michigan) have
passed laws permitting autonomous cars. In Europe, cities in Belgium, France, Italy
and the UK are planning to operate transport systems for driverless cars.
Germany, Netherlands and Spain have allowed testing robotic cars in
traffic. Finland is planning on passing a law before year 2015.

As far back as the 2014 World Congress in Detroit, two key questions that
will be posed at the High Level Policy Round Table are: The future of ITS
1. What are you doing to prepare for changes in our surface is defined by
transportation system?
connectivity – and
2. What are you doing to prepare for connected and autonomous
vehicles? the network
Our progression towards ITS will likely be steadily paced and effect.
measureable. Our primary tasks in preparing for the ubiquitous ITS are as
follows:

Action 1
Smart vehicles, smart
We need to identify stakeholders and bind them to a cooperative cities, smart roadways
framework. Oftentimes, ITS components are embedded within road, rail
or other infrastructure projects and the full potential for important ITS define the roadmap for
elements via integration with other services are not fully harnessed or V2I - V2V integration.
perhaps not even recognised. A central coordinating body at the highest
level of Government should be established to ensure that our legacy and
future systems can be sufficiently integrated across different technology
platforms such that important data sets can be cross-linked for intelligent
analytics. Systems need to be intelligently networked.

28
 Action 2

We need strategic plans to map out a coherent growth chart for V2X
applications. Presently, there are different and uncoordinated efforts in
the deployment of such as the following:
We should be
pushing for a
 Advanced public transport systems
better engagement
Prasarana Malaysia Bhd is leading the ITS effort in
improvements in public transport infrastructure via its and understanding
multitude of on-going projects such as the Ampang and Kelana
Line LRT extension projects, the Sunway BRT project, RapidKL at the decision
bus fleet tracking system, bus scheduling and driver rostering
system, cashless bus ticketing system, passenger information making level.
display system, MyRapid Journey Planner, Rapid Rail Integrated
Control Center, and the Rapid Rail Automatic Fare Collection
System. One of the biggest barriers
to ITS is institutional. There
are viable and practical ITS
solutions in most situations,
but bringing different
organisations from dis-
connected jurisdictions to a
Binding these different initiatives and disseminating the data common technology
across a wider holistic surface transport infrastructure and platform can come against
across different agencies such as APAD, JPJ, City Hall KL, PDRM,
MOT and other service preoviders remains challenging.
some very entrenched
attitudes and operational
 Commercial vehicle systems barriers rather quickly.
CVS applications includes projects such as the centralised taxi
service system, and the proposed electronic cargo tracking
system for containers underpinning green lane ASEAN cross
border shipment of goods. There are already many commercial
vehicles (including taxis and buses) that are now equipped with
GPS for real time tracking and route variance monitoring to
deliver enhanced services for users.

ITS systems such as latest weigh-in-motion technologies can be gainfully

deployed to detect overloading of heavy vehicles. It had been estimated
that gross vehicle weight violations could occur in 1 out of every 3
commercial vehicles. Such non-compliant vehicles reduce the lifespan of our
roadways, and are road hazards. Overweight vehicles are more susceptible
to rollovers, have greater maneuvering difficulties with lane changing,
weaving and braking, and increases driver fatigue – all of which increase the
danger levels for other road users.

29
 “… a quarter of accident fatalities in Malaysia
involve heavy vehicles…”, ref. Degree of Vehicle Overloading and its
Implication on Road Safety in Developing Countries, Civil and Environmental Research,
Mohamed Rehan Karim et. Al, 2013.

The Government spends a significant portion of its annual infrastructure

budget on road network and bridge maintenance, much of which could be
saved if road damage caused by overweight vehicles can be avoided or at
least minimized via stronger measures using ITS for detection and
monitoring.

 Electronic toll collection

ETC implementation is regulated by the Malaysian Highway Authority.

Recently, we have migration towards full ETC (at seven toll plaza locations),
and there is an inevitable migration towards Multi-Lane Free Flow System
(MLFF). The implementation of MLFF will be a natural test bed for the
eventual deployment of Electronic (Area) Road Pricing system for Kuala
Lumpur.

 Advanced Traffic Management and Advanced Traveler Information

Systems.

City Hall Kuala Lumpur has reinvigorated the Integrated Transport

Information System with over 1000 new cameras and vehicle detectors
(dubbed ITIS 2.0). Together with the area traffic control systems operated
by City Hall KL and the various local authorities, the telemetric system
operated by the Highway Planning Unit, Ministry of Works, and the
multitude of vehicle detectors along 30 odd tolled highways; there is a
significant opportunity to provide a wide area network of real time detectors
throughout the country.

“Malaysian expressways are not ITS cohesive in

that traffic information are not tightly
coordinated or integrated across the network.”
Opportunities to embed more ITS detectors into new road upgrading works
and junction improvements will see a progressive increase the level of
detectorization that will have important V2I applications in the near future.

30
 There remains large untapped opportunities to
manage the entire network of expressways
from a data-centric perspective coupled with
intelligent analytics to help policy makers
visualize the impacts of new highways and
changes arising from demand management
strategies.

There are at least 10 upcoming major

expressways with investments in the billions –
each with its own system of Traffic Control and
Surveillance (TCSS) – and although linked to the
MHA TMC – remain largely run and operated as
individual tolled expressways with interests that
may not always be compatible with that of a
network.

 Road Safety and Enforcement

“Malaysia has 17th most dangerous roads in the

world”, ref. the STAR, 22 Feb 2014.
According to research by the University of Michigan, Malaysia is among the
top 25 most dangerous countries for road users, with 30 fatalities per
100,000 individuals, as compared to the world average of 18 deaths per Compliance with road
100,000. rules in Malaysia is poor.
As part of continuing
ITS provides solutions for the enhancement safety at the vehicle and road
level via the following: efforts to combat low
compliances, City Hall KL
has started a pilot project
Electronic stability control that issues pre-recorded
Lane departure warning audible warning messages
Adaptive cruise control when vehicles stop inside
Adaptive lighting
the yellow boxes at
Lane keeping system
Vehicle junctions. The system is
Collision avoidance system
Pedestrian detection integrated with cameras,
Enhanced night time vision siren, beacons and Public
Attention / Fatigue warning system Address system.
Blind spot detection
Driver smart card entry
eCALL
Illuminated road studs
Variable speed limits
Automated enforcement
Road infrastructure Traffic monitoring
Rapid / emergency response systems
Black spot warning
Incident information

31
 “ … A smart road design that features glow in the dark tarmac
and illuminated weather indicators are proposed to be
installed in the Netherlands in 2013. The first few hundred
meters will be installed in the province of Branbant followed by
priority induction lanes, interactive lights that switch on as cars
pass and wind powered lights within the next 5 years. A photo
luminising powder will replace road markings. It charges up
during sunlight giving it up to 10 hours of glow in the dark time
come nightfall…”

Wired.com

 Emissions

“In 2013, … the fuel subsidy cost of RM 28.9 billion

was 61.9% of the total subsidy bill and 13.4% of
Touch ‘n Go
the budget’s operating expenditure”, ref. the EDGE
MALAYSAIA, 25 August 2014.
Touch ‘n Go is of developing a new On-
ITS has been shown to have a significant potential to reduce fuel Board Based Unit based on RFID
consumption (and consequently greenhouse gas emissions) by technology. In the public
optimising travel logistics, as well as controlling, managing and transportation sector, Touch ‘n Go is
collaborating with the Government to
policing traffic restraint and demand management. implement an Integrated Cashless
Payment System to further enhance
Fuel consumption and/or emissions could be monitored and mobility for users. Not to be left
feedback given to optimise driving style and vehicle behaviour. This is behind in the mobile technology,
Touch ‘n Go has also embarked on
especially useful for commercial vehicles. We are seeing new sensors other exciting innovations utilizing
that are smaller, cheaper and more versatile and their deployment in Near Field Communications (“NFC”)
intelligent, interacting networks is opening up a new age of capabilities in smart phone for mobile
environmental monitoring. Increasing the intelligence in the payment as well as enabling over-the-
air reload.
infrastructure, coupled with increased sensing, processing and
communications capability will lead to new paradigms on how the
transport network is managed, controlled and operated in the future.

 Legislation

“ … At European Union level, both the Council and the

European Parliament have been active in developing
legislation that involves deployment of ITS. The EU is
also aiming to create a single market for ITS
services ...”, ref. The Potential of Intelligent Transport Systems for reducing road
transport related greenhouse gas emissions, European Commission, DG Enterprise & Industry.

32
 The deployment of new technologies need to be supported by
new legislation such as in the areas of enforcement,
compliances, data and privacy protection. One of the issues
with the deployment of the Automated Enforcement System
(AES aka AWAS) related to perception of weaknesses in laws
enabling the enforcement and prosecution of traffic offences
under the AES; as well as some overlap in jurisdictions between
the Road Transport Department and the Police.

The emergence of e-hailing has also challenged the current

modes of regulating the traditional taxi industry in Malaysia.

There are opportunities and lessons to be learnt from the EU

who have progressed far in terms of legislation and the
establishment and promotion of a vibrant market for ITS
products and services.

 Smart Cities

The concept of smart cities, like ITS, is defined by the use of information and
communication technologies in a new form of management and governance
that optimizes the use a city limited resources such as water, utilities,
transportation, and energy. ITS help cities:

 Disseminate real time travel information to provide drivers and

commuters the tools necessary to make timely mode and route choices

 Helps agencies project commuter demand to optimize capacity and

minimize congestion

 Coordinate resources to improve safety and enhance the traveller’s

experience

 Digital Malaysia

“…Digital Malaysia seeks to advance the country

towards a developed digital economy by 2020 by
creating an ecosystem that promotes the
pervasive use of ICT in all aspects of the
economy … resulting in increased Gross National
Income, enhanced productivity and improved
standards of living…”, ref. www.digitalmalaysia.my

Malaysia is pushing towards a digital economy and nurturing a

knowledgeable and innovative workforce. ITS has not yet been fully
recognized for its role in the creation of a Digital Malaysia. There are many

33
 untapped opportunities to mainstream ITS into other similar initiatives by
Government.

ref. www.digitalmalaysia.my

 ASEAN Connectivity

The ASEAN Strategic Transport Plan 2011-2015 places significant emphasis

on transport infrastructure development using ICT for physical and
institutional connectivity, to deepen economic integration, reduce the costs
of international trade in goods and services such as services link costs and
network set-up costs.

ITS can play a significant role in ASEAN Connectivity such as via the
deployment of Electronic Cargo Tracking System (“ECTS”). In this scheme,
cargo from any originating location will be allowed unhindered green lane
cross-border travel as long as the shipment is electronically secured and
tracked. ECTS provides a means for faster customs clearance, significantly
reduced deployment of manned resources, enhanced security and cargo
visibility at all stages of movement.

34
7 CLOSING REMARKS

In this Document, ITS MALAYSIA has put forth generally the current state of
development of the ITS industry in Malaysia as of 2021. Although the country took
an early lead in the development of its expressways, and despite having established
the early ITS Strategic, Master Plan and Architectural Plans, the nation has not been
able to bring about a cohesive and actionable development strategy.

There are many isolated ITS deployments over the years, but without proper linkage
and/or a communications strategy that pulls it all into a cooperative framework,
Malaysia will not be able to enjoy the full potential and benefits of ITS. Despite this,
it is inevitable that there will be continuing significant ad hoc investments in areas
such as Traffic Control and Surveillance Systems, Advanced Traffic Management
Systems, Commercial Vehicle Operations, Advanced Public Transport Systems and
Advanced Traveler Information Systems by different agencies in attempting to keep
up technological advancements. Some of these developments will be either
promoted by vendors and/or initiated by agencies inspired by developments in other
cities or countries.

To ensure that investments in ITS in Malaysia bring about the optimal benefits, the
Government should take a leadership role, to set directions and to create cohesion
among different stakeholders with the primary singular goal being to establish a
cooperative platform for V2I readiness.

Government needs to establish a vision for a near to mid-term strategy for the
development of ITS in the country. What follows will then be a set of action plans
coupled with tangible outcomes or deliverables that will help benchmark the level of
success for each plan.

ITS is oftentimes embedded too deeply into other infrastructure projects to be

properly recognized and for which much valuable information or data is then lost or
not shared. Government needs to establish a coordinating body with broad oversight
into various projects to identify ITS components and to pull out those parts that can
be gainfully shared within a cooperative network or platform with other related or
impacted agencies. It is no longer tenable for projects to be implemented by single
user agencies that are isolated and unnecessarily fire-walled from other agencies who
may be able to benefit from selective shared data.

35
Key Planning / Policy Documents

1. 12th Malaysia Plan, 2021 - 2025

2. Cyberjaya Smart Low Carbon City Action Plan 2025
3. Green Technology Master Plan 2017 - 2030
4. Highway Network Development Plan, 2030
5. ITS Master Plan
6. ITS Strategic Plan
7. ITS System Architecture
8. LLM Strategic Plan 2021-2025
9. Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint
10. Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDigital)
11. Malaysia ITS Blueprint 2019-2023
12. Malaysia Smart City Handbook 2021
13. Malaysia Smart City Outlook 2021-2022
14. National 4IR Policy 2021
15. National Automotive Policy 3030
16. National Electric Mobility Blueprint
17. National Policy on Industry 4.0 (Industry4wrd)
18. National Transport Policy 2019-2030
19. Smart Selangor Action Plan to 2025
20. Putrajaya Smart City Blueprint
Key Stakeholders
APAD Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat (Land Public Transport Agency)
DBKL City Hall Kuala Lumpur
DNB Digital Nasional Berhad
EPU Economic Planning Unit
HPU Highway Planning Division
IEM Institution of Engineers Malaysia
IM Iskandar Malaysia
IRDA Iskandar Regional Development Authority
IRT Iskandar Rapid Transit
ITSM Association of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Malaysia
JENDELA Jalinan Digital Negara
JKR Jabatan Kerja Raya (Public Works Department)
JPJ Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (Road Transport Department)
KPKT Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan (Ministry of Housing
and Local Government)
LLM Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (Malaysia Highway Authority)
MARii Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute
MCMC Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
MDEC Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation
MGTC Malaysia Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation
MHA Malaysia Highway Authority
MIGHT Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology
MIROS Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research
MITI Ministry of International Trade and Industry
MOF Ministry of Finance
MOSTI Ministry of Science, Technology and InnovaU on
MOT Ministry of Transport
MOW Ministry of Works
MRT Co Mass Rapid Transit Corporation
MSCA Malaysia Smart Cities Alliance
PDRM Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)
PLUS PLUS Expressways Berhad
PSKLM Persatuan Syarikat Konsesi Lebuhraya Malaysia (Association of
Highway Concessionaires Malaysia)
Prasarana Prasarana Malaysia Berhad
Rapid KL Collection of bus and rail systems under Prasarana as part of the Klang
Valley Integrated Transit System
REAM Road Engineering Association of Malaysia
SIRIM Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia
SSDU Smart Selangor Deliery Unit / Smart Selangor
TM Telekom Malaysia
TNG Digital Touch n’Go, e-wallet
ABBREVIATIONS
AEB Autonomous Emergency Braking
ASCN ASEAN Smart City Network
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
AES Automatic Enforcement System
AI Artificial Intelligence
ANPR Automatic Number Plate Recognition System
AP Asia Pacific
APAD Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat (Land Public Transport Agency)
APTS Advanced Public Transport System
ART Autonomous Rapid Transit System
AWAS Automated Awareness Safety System
BRT Bus Rapid Transit
CAV Connected and Automated Vehicles
DCaasS Data Center as a Service
DNB Digital Nasional Berhad
ECRL East Coast Railway Line
ECTS Electronic Cargo Tracking System
EPU Economic Planning Unit
ETC Electronic Toll Collection
EV Electric Vehicles
EVIC Electric Vehicle Interoperability Center
GBN Green Bus Network
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIS Geographical Information System
GKV Greater Klang Valley
GNI Gross National Income
GTFS General Transit Feed Specification
GVW Gross Vehicle Weight
IoT Internet-of-Things
IM Iskandar Malaysia
ITIS Integrated Transport Information System
JENDELA Jalinan Digital Negara (National Digital Network)
JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency
IMUO Iskandar Malaysia Urban Observatory
IR 4.0 Industrial Revolution 4.0
IRDA Iskandar Regional Development Authority
IRT Iskandar Rapid Transit
ITT Integrated Transport Terminal
JPJ Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (Road Transport Department)
LPTC Land Public Transport Commission
LRT Light Rapid Transit
MaaS Mobility as a Service
MARii Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute
MCO Movement Control Order
MCMC Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission
ABBREVIATIONS
MDEC Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation
MHA Malaysia Highway Authority
MIGHT Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology
MIROS Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research
MITI Ministry of International Trade and Industry
ML Machine Learning
MLFF Multi-Lan Free Flow
MM Mott MacDonald
MOSTI Ministry of Science, Technology and InnovaU on
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MRT Mass Rapid Transit
NADMA National Disaster Management Agency
NAP 2020 National Automotive Policy 2020
NCAP New Car Assessment Program
NITMC National Intelligent Transport Management Center
NTP 2030 National Transport Policy 2019-2030
NxGV Next Generation Vehicles
REAM Road Engineering Association of Malaysia
RFID Radio Frequency Identification
RTS Rapid Transit System link
PDRM Polis Diraja Malaysia (Royal Malaysia Police)
PIARC Permanent International Association of Road Congresses
POC Proof of Concept
SIMMS Smart Integrated Mobility Management System
SITS Selangor Intelligent Transport System
SMART tunnel Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel
SSDU Smart Selangor Delivery Unit
SWM Single Wholesale Network
TCSS Traffic Control and Surveillance System
TM Telekom Malaysia
TNB Tenaga Nasional Berhad
TMC Transport Management Center
V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastructure
V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle
VMS Variable Message Sign
WIM Weigh-in-Motion
ITS Malaysia, Council Members: 2020 - 2022

President
Dato’ Sri Ir. Hj. Ismail b. Salleh

Deputy President
Wan Mohd Asraf bin Wan Salleh

Honorary Secretary General

Dato’ Ir. Mat Rosly bin Mat Daud

Honorary Treasurer General

Ir. Lee Choy Hin

Council Members
Dato’ Ir. Han Joke Kwang
Datuk Ir. Dr.Leong Siew Mun
Dato’ Ir. Hj. Che Noor Azeman
Ir. Hj. Azman bin Masbah
Ir. Lawrence Liew
Ir. Chin Kar Keong
Noor Mazlan bin Muhammad Noor
Mohd Sharulnizam Sarip
Tpr. Wee Huay Neo
Ts. Dr. Siti Zaharah Ishak
Zaida Abdul Aziz
Datuk Tan Kim Bock, Steven
A. Azmin bin Jafar
Mohamad Nizam bin Mustafa
Latipah binti Sani
Ir. Dr. Khairil Anwar bin Abu Kassim
Ir. Mohd Fairuz bin Mamat
 INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA
Level 2, Highway Planning Unit, Ministry of Works
Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, 50580 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2771 4201 Fax: 03-2711 3975 Email : [email protected]

Important Note / Disclaimer:

This Document includes various references to publicly available information, without any representation or endorsement made and without
warranty of any kind whether express or implied. This is an internal working paper intended solely for closed discussion between ITS Malaysia and
others. This Document is not intended for general distribution or for public dissemination.