Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Guan Eng disappointed request to expand Penang airport rejected

GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (pix) is disappointed the request to expand the Penang International Airport (PIA) is not happening in the near future.

The Bagan MP said he found this out in the reply by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai to his question in Parliament.

He questioned why there was no expansion even though arrivals to the PIA was estimated to reach 6.6 million by the end of this year which was above the current capacity of 6.5 million.

He said demand of 6.5 million arrivals was only expected in 2020 but seemed to be coming earlier than estimated.

He said the PIA was the second most busiest airport after the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) so the expansion could not be delayed.

"The longer the upgrade, the worse this becomes for the PIA," he said in a press conference today.

In the reply, Liow reportedly said the expansion was postponed as the project was not in the Second Rolling Plan of the 11th Malaysian Plan (11MP) due to allocation constraints by the federal government.

He nonetheless said the federal administration had plans to expand the PIA to deal with 10 million passengers per annum.

Source: The Sun Daily | 29 November 2016

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