GEORGE TOWN: The delay in the Penang International Airport expansion project was caused by the former Pakatan Harapan government changing the method of financing the project, MCA president Wee Ka Siong said today.
Wee, who served as transport minister in the outgoing government, said funds for the project were allocated in the 2018 budget, but the allocation was not used by the PH government that took over after the May 2018 general election.
Wee said when Lim Guan Eng took office as finance minister, he decided to seek a private partner to expand the airport through a private finance initiative instead of using budget allocations.
“We had the funds to carry out the expansion but he (Lim) didn’t want to use them. When he was the finance minister, he had a different idea for the project,” said Wee after a general election campaign event for party comrade Saw Yee Fung, the BN candidate for the Bayan Baru constituency.
Wee was responding to a call by state DAP vice-chairman Zairil Khir Johari for voters to not pick BN or PN again as he claimed that key infrastructure projects, such as the airport expansion, might be shelved.
Wee said that when he became transport minister in March 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, all airports were affected by the lockdowns, which resulted in dwindling revenues for airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.
However, none of the airport staff was retrenched during that period. Amid gloomy prospects for civil aviation, MAHB couldn’t afford to take up a huge project, Wee said.
Wee said that the Ismail Sabri Yaakob government had been ready to go ahead, but work had been stalled by a few land matters, such as the relocation of an adjacent Chinese school, which was yet to be settled by the Penang state government.
“When all of that is settled, we will give priority to Penang. We are not cancelling projects,” said Wee.
“Actually, it was during PH’s time when the High-Speed Rail, JB-Singapore Rapid Transit System and East Coast Rail Link projects were cancelled. We had to pay a lot of money in compensation for the cancelled projects in the end,” he said.
Wee said he was also ready to have a debate with Lim over the airport matter if Lim was keen on doing so. FMT has contacted Lim for comment.
The Penang International Airport has a capacity of 6.5 million passengers per year and was given the green light to double its capacity by the Pakatan Harapan government. However, the Ismail government decided not to build or expand airports until 2025. - FMT
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