klia2 cheapest airport in the world, says deputy transport minister
The Malaysian Insider – 4 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
- klia2 cheapest airport in the world, says deputy transport minister
Putrajaya today declared new low-cost terminal klia2 “the cheapest airport in the world” to build, despite being riddled with problems including construction costs doubling to RM4 billion.
Deputy transport minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said klia2 was built at RM89 per pax while other airports such as Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport and Changi’s Terminal 4 in Singapore were built at RM330 per pax and RM2,906 per pax respectively.
"This is the best achievement in the world in terms of construction cost as it is considered the cheapest in the world," he told Datuk Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir (BN - Kulim Bandar Baru) in Parliament.
Abdul Aziz added that klia2 also held the distinction of being completed the "fastest in the world", saying that the terminal only took four years to complete.
In contrast, he said Suvarnabhumi Airport took 4.75 years to be completed and Hong Kong International Airport took 6 years while Germany is still building theirs despite construction starting nearly seven years ago.
He also played down worries over the safety of klia2 in relation to depressions on the runways and taxiways, saying that these issues were expected by the airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).
"To date, it has not caused any major problems and all of these were fixed within 24 hours. No flights at klia2 were affected because it only happened at a few areas and did not involve the entire airport," he said.
klia2, which has a capacity of 45 million passengers annually, was built to replace the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport cargo centre.
The project that began construction in 2009 suffered several delays due to design changes and extensive earthwork.
The cost also ballooned from RM2 billion to RM4 billion which MAHB said was due to several requests from AirAsia and other agencies.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has queried the project's delays and cost, including a RM100 million government grant for the Express Rail Link (ERL) extension to the terminal.
Low cost airlines such as Malindo Air, Cebu Pacific Air, Tiger Airways, Mandala Airlines and Lion Air moved to the new airport on May 2 while Asia's biggest budget carrier AirAsia did so a week later.
Several safety concerns had been highlighted, but a week before its official opening, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had inspected the facility and given the go-ahead for the terminal to start operations. – June 10, 2014.
