Penang airport expansion all set to start, says CM when urging for its resumption

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 25 — The Penang International Airport (PIA) expansion project was at an advanced stage of readiness when the federal government suspended it for the National Airport Strategy Plan (NASP) study, said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.

He said the city council had already approved the planning permission for it and that Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) had also appointed consultants on February 15 last year.

“In August 2019, the Transport Ministry had approved the airport expansion to 12 million passenger capacity,” he said.

“Since we are already in the advanced stage of preparedness, the project should continue,” he added.

He urged the ministry to remove the PIA expansion from the NASP study to allow the projects to take place independently.

Chow said the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government never made any announcement to cancel or postpone the airport expansion project.

“It was clear that the expansion project will proceed as planned at that time and due to the advanced stage of preparations, we expected it to proceed,” he said.

He noted that the suspension was only made known when he and other PH lawmakers submitted questions in Parliament regarding the status of the expansion.

When responding to these, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong announced that all airport projects, including new developments and expansion, will not be considered as the ministry will be implementing the NASP to encompass all airport developments in the country.

The NASP study is expected to complete in 2023 and the ministry will only consider any airport development proposals after that.

Chow said the inclusion of PIA expansion into the NASP meant Penang will have to wait till after 2023 for the project to start.

He said that when PH had been in power, the Opposition had told its ministers to perform their duties responsibly.

“Now that Perikatan Nasional has been the government for six months with Wee as the transport minister, it is the responsibility of the ministry to implement what they were supposed to do,” he said.

He stressed that the state was not against the NASP but only wanted the PIA expansion project to commence without further delay.