THE Penang government is looking beyond 30 years from now on whether there is a need for a new airport and if so, a suitable site for it.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said a consultant, who has been engaged, has drawn up the Term of Reference and the scope of study for the state government to go through.
“We try to have a new airport in Penang through reclamation. We want the airport to remain in Penang instead of going elsewhere,” Chow said when asked about his recent trip to Putrajaya for meetings related to transport and water issues.
“If the airport is needed in Seberang (Perai), we have to accept the fact that there is no more land available in Penang (island).”
Chow also believes that if the current Penang International Airport (PIA) in Bayan Lepas is expanded, it would be the final expansion looking at the scarcity of land in the vicinity.
“You can see that it’s almost impossible to expand and to put a new runaway without having to acquire all the factories at the site of the Bayan Lepas airport.
“That’s why we feel that in the very long run even with the proposed expansion, it will last Penang another 10 to 20 years.
“But what about beyond that? We need to look at the new airport and we like to propose a new airport. If it is not in Batu Maung, then may be on one of three PSR (Penang South Reclamation) islands or also may be another island,” Chow added.
For the moment, Chow said the state government was trying to address the terminal capacity constraint at PIA.
Although it has a capacity for 6.5 million passengers annually, PIA recorded 7.8 million last year. Chow said the Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) had earlier planned for an expansion until 12 million whereas the Finance Ministry has planned for it to be upgraded to 16 million for long-term planning.
Chow said Kedah too raised the issue of building just a cargo airport and not a passenger airport in Kulim at the meeting.
While the idea is in ‘the early days’, Chow said it would be best left to the authorities to do a study on whether the Kulim airport project is justified to be near a current one and whether it is necessary for Kulim to have a cargo airport.
“The reason given by Kedah for a cargo airport is that sometimes we could not cope (with the business). This I think I need my department to advise me. But I don’t think so (that PIA could not cope),” Chow said.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Alissala Thian
Video by Alvie Cheng