‘Construction of klia2 among Malaysia’s best achievements’

THE construction of the Kuala Lumpur 2 (klia2) airport is among Malaysia’s best achievements in the global arena, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi said this was because the cost only entailed RM3.92 billion and it was completed in four years unlike other similar terminals elsewhere.

He said klia2’s cost per passenger was RM89 as compared to one in Germany ( RM478), Terminal 5, Heathrow, London (RM717), and the most expensive to date, Terminal 4, Changi, Singapore (RM2,096).

“Not only that, klia2 was also the fastest to be completed. Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok took 4.75 years to be ready, Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport is still under construction although nearly seven years has passed while Terminal 5, Heathrow and Hong Kong Airport each took six years (to be completed),” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir (BN-Kulim Bandar Baharu).

Abdul Aziz had wanted to know if the government had been over ambitious as to costs and construction period of klia2 because completion was delayed.

To the original question from Sim Chee Keong ( DAP-Bukit Mertajam), Abd Aziz had outlined the breakdown of costs for the construction of klia2 according to the main components, namely the terminal building, runway and related infrastructure where the total contract value awarded by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad ( MAHB) was RM3.38 billion.

“The main package, that is the klia2 terminal building, was awarded to UEM-Bina Puri JV with a contract value of RM1.14 billion, Runway3 and taxiway system to KUB Berhad ( RM247 million), Aircraft stands to Nippon Road ( M), Bayangan Sepadu Sdn Bhd, Norangkasa Enterprise Sdn Bhd; and Award Consortium Sdn Bhd- Swa Water ( Malaysia) Sdn Bhd JV (RM543 million),” he said. — Bernama