14 June 2013
AirAsia has asked Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to reveal klia2‘s completion date, following claims that the budget airline was to blame for the terminal’s delay.
AirAsia Bhd CEO Aireen Omar was worried that unless this was announced, more “finger-pointing” would occur.
“As a party which will ultimately occupy and operate from klia2, we have consistently expressed concern over delays to the project and the cost overrun,” she said.
Aireen said klia2 was designed to relieve the nearby low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) but had ballooned into a “vast and highly complex” building.
She added that the baggage handling system and the aerobridges, which AirAsia has supposedly been blamed for, were only smaller parts of the whole project.
“In January, MAHB announced the project was 53 days ahead of schedule. It is very puzzling now that MAHB is not able to give a new completion date,” she said.
She proposed for a Government-appointed independent body to determine the project’s progress, completion date and estimated cost.
klia2 is supposed to be completed on June 28 this year – a deadline set by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Tendered in 2009, the project – which was meant to handle 30 million passengers a year – initially cost RM1.9bil.
However, its delivery date was revised several times due to various changes, including a bigger terminal to handle more than 40 million passengers a year and an automated baggage handling system.
These pushed costs up to RM4bil, though analysts have recently suggested an eventual RM4.5bil price tag.
Source: www.thestar.com.my
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