16 January 2014
The increased cost in the construction of klia2 to RM4 billion is due to the “ever-changing aviation industry”, revealed Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed.
Among the changes in the plan was to cater to an expected 45 million passengers instead of the initial 25 million forecasted earlier.
The anticipated increase in the number of passengers had contributed to numerous changes including an increased terminal size, baggage handling and others necessary to cope with the large number of passengers.
"Numerous issues were discussed on the construction of the terminal, airport runway and others that had caused the construction of the airport new terminal to increase up to RM4 billion.
"It is caused by the aviation industry which is more towards low cost carriers. This has caused changes in size and terminals being built," said Nur Jazlan.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had anticipated that the demand of low cost travel would increase, therefore there was a need for the government to change the capacity of the terminal.
Nur Jazlan said the matter of klia2 is still open for discussion and that PAC will only give the full report once it is concluded.
“I don’t want to jump the gun to give any assurance because the issue is of public interest," he said.
“We will look into the information given by the ministry so that we will reach a formulation on why this incident had occurred where the initial plan had changed and caused the cost of construction to bloat drastically.”
The construction of Low Cost Carrier Terminal, klia2, is scheduled for completion by the end of this month, with the Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) to be issued at the same time.
This would enable operational readiness and airport transfer (ORAT) to commence over three months before the scheduled opening date of May 2.
The airport has to go through ORAT first before any final approval can be given for the airport to be in operation.
Throughout this period, the committee would make site visits to witness how the operation was running so that they can evaluate on whether the target set for the opening of the airport was achievable.
PAC today had a 3-hour long meeting with the Ministry of Transport to ensure that the government policies on klia2 such as developing Malaysia as the low cost travel industry hub, ensuring that the project is in line with the initial development of KLIA and that it is planned and implemented well.
Source: www.fz.com
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