KLIA2 cost hike: Call for heads to roll

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua wants action against top managers of Malaysian Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) for failing to disclose crucial information about the KLIA2 site, leading to bloating of the project cost.

At a press conference at the DAP headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today, Pua said the drawbacks of the move were "conveniently left out" during the MAHB’s presentation to the government steering committee at a meeting in April 2008.

"There was specific reference to the site move from KLIA North to KLIA West, but no good reason was given as to why the site was shifted,” Pua claimed.

"At the April 15, 2008 presentation, no mention was made of the reasons stated in the (1992 KLIA) master plan as to why KLIA West was unsuitable.”

In 2007, MAHB had told government officials that the western site - on which it is building KLIA2 today - was unsuitable as it is made of peat marine overlay which has poor load-bearing capacity.

Pua had last year pointed out that the need to deal with the poor soil had contributed to the bulk of the RM2.2 billion jump in costs, as well as delays in construction.

Comparing slides from the MAHB presentation in April 2008 with another by the corporation in July 2007, Pua said figures appear to have been changed to support the shift.

In the 2008 presentation, MAHB stated that the northern site has a forecast passenger load of up to 80 million per annum, some 20 million fewer than the western site.

However, the 1992 master plan cited in the 2007 presentation stated that the northern site can take up to 105 million passengers per annum.

Besides the passenger load, MAHB had also argued in its 2008 presentation that the western site is better as it would allow for a third runway to be built.

"(Dr) Ling Liong Sik was charged for the same reason, leaving out data and information (on the Port Klang Free Zone project)," the DAP publicity chief noted as an aside.

Transport Ministry blamed
While representatives of the ministries of finance and home affairs and other agencies cannot be expected to have the technical know-how to scrutinise the proposal to shift locations, Pua said, the same cannot be said about about the Transport Ministry.

"As regulators, they should have been more diligent in their monitoring and not leave everything to MAHB," he said.

According to the minutes, those at the April 15, 2008 meeting were MAHB director Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid and representatives from the finance, home affairs and defence ministries, as well as other government agencies and stakeholders. 

The decision to shift the location was made in 2008, under the watch of then Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat.

MAHB had in a Dec 14, 2011 posting on its website stated that the new site was selected based on the National Airport Master Plan 2008, which "superseded the original KLIA master plan (1992)”.

‘Major issues such as location, soil condition, airside/landside connectivity and existing infrastructure were also taken into consideration in the study,’ it said.

It said a ‘detailed and comprehensive study (had been done) involving all stakeholders including the Ministry of Transport, Department of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs and all airlines’.

‘The original KLIA Master Plan was reviewed so as to take into account the latest development in the aviation industry such as growth of low-fare airlines and their specific requirements, rationalisation of routes, liberalisation of air service agreements and aviation security requirements.’