Penang govt open to proposal for new airport
Cm: Plans, if any, still in its initial stage
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Government is open to any airport proposal, including the proposed North Malaysia International Airport (NMIA) to be located on the mainland, says Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
The state, he said, was briefed by a consortium on the proposed project in September.
“We are open to any airport proposal but at the moment it is just a mere proposal.
“Nothing has firmed up. According to the proposal, if NMIA is built, Penang International Airport (PIA) will have to be closed.
“The impact will be great if the airport in Bayan Lepas has to be closed.
“The consortium proposed that the land PIA is on be then used for industrial development,” he said while replying to a supplementary question by Goh Choon Aik (PH-Bukit Tambun) on the proposed NMIA.
In June, The Star ran an exclusive story on the location of NMIA which would be near the border shared by Kedah, Penang and Perak.
The massive 650ha project is estimated to cost RM10bil. The site, at present, is a vast tract of padi fields, and the project includes 400ha for warehousing and logistics facilities.
The consortium has proposed an airport large enough to handle between 16 and 25 million passengers a year.
If the plans materialise, it would spell the end for PIA in Bayan Lepas, which is on Penang island.
It is understood that the proposal for NMIA, if given the nod, would be an exchange for the rights to develop the coveted prime land now occupied by PIA.
Chow said everything was still at an initial stage. “The consortium which brought this up has to do more at the various ministries’ levels for approval.
“The state government is willing to listen to them after that. All of a sudden, everyone wants to build airports,” he said.
NMIA Consortium’s project director Paul Soo had told The Star in June that NMIA is meant to serve the three states.
There is a proposed check-in terminal on Penang island that will have a transit monorail for flight passengers to commute between the island and NMIA in 45 minutes.
The monorail transit line was calculated to be 57km long, about the same as the train link between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and KL Sentral.
This rail link includes an interchange station with the Electric Train Service between Padang Besar (Perlis) and Kuala Lumpur, and stops at Batu Kawan Industrial Estate on mainland Penang and near Queensbay Mall in Bayan Lepas on the island.