"klia2 Is Best In The World"

The construction of the Kuala Lumpur 2 (KLIA2) airport is among Malaysia’s best achievements in the global arena, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

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Putrajaya today declared new low-cost terminal klia2 “the cheapest airport in the world” to build, despite being riddled with problems including construction costs doubling to RM4 billion.

Deputy transport minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said klia2 was built at RM89 per pax while other airports such as Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport and Changi’s Terminal 4 in Singapore were built at RM330 per pax and RM2,906 per pax respectively.

"This is the best achievement in the world in terms of construction cost as it is considered the cheapest in the world," he told Datuk Abdul Aziz Sheikh Fadzir (BN - Kulim Bandar Baru) in Parliament.

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Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told Parliament during Question Time that Malaysia did much better than more developed countries like Germany and the United Kingdom in building an airport the scale of KLIA2 in four years. “In terms of time, KLIA2 is the fastest in the world. Bangkok took 4.7 years, the Berlin airport took nearly seven years while Heathrow took nearly six years.

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“So Malaysia is the best in the world in terms of the airport’s construction,” Abdul Aziz said in reply to a question by Kulim Bandar Baru Umno MP Datuk Aziz Sheikh Fadzir.

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He also played down worries over the safety of klia2 in relation to depressions on the runways and taxiways, saying that these issues were expected by the airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).

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"To date, it has not caused any major problems and all of these were fixed within 24 hours. No flights at klia2 were affected because it only happened at a few areas and did not involve the entire airport," he said.

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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.

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The project that began construction in 2009 suffered several delays due to design changes and extensive earthwork. The cost also ballooned from RM2 billion to RM4 billion which MAHB said was due to several requests from AirAsia and other agencies.

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. Abd Aziz said earthworks for the terminal building, apron and Runway 3 cost RM524 million, infrastructure and utilities (RM222 million) and Parallel Taxiway to Runway 2 and Cross Taxiway (RM161 million).

"For government assets needed for the operations of klia2, the total cost borne by MAHB was RM582 million (including additional roads for maintenance purposes, construction work on utilities and consultancy payment on government assets," he said. These assets were the control tower and related equipment costing RM174 million and access roads (RM294 million), he said, adding that consultancy and other ancillary costs came up to RM114 million.