Bucket brigade clears flooded KLIA2 runway

Airport workers resort to clearing flood waters using the common house bucket.

VIDEO INSIDE

KUALA LUMPUR: Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua raised the issue of flooding at KLIA2 in Paliament today asking what high tech measures were used in the building of the runway.

“I wish to bring up this issue after watching a video on Youtube yesterday entitled “Berlaku banjir di KLIA2″ (Floods in KLIA2) which captures workers clearing a runway after it was hit by floods,” he said.

Pua added, ”It’s now a joke. The Transport Ministry should have ensured that such cracks and dips in the tarmac were rectified before the airport was opened as a ‘high-tech’ airport.”

Saying that the flooding was a serious matter that called for immediate action, Pua added, “This is not the first time the runway was flooded and more importantly it happened when the runway was fully operational.”

In previous months, Pua had demanded that the Transport Minister disclose the total cost of the airport and what course of action was taken by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to overcome the incidence of cracks and dips at the airport’s apron and runway.

“I have only received an answer that the dips were the result of the land settling at KLIA2 which caused ‘differential settlement’ which was envisaged during the construction period,” he told members of the media at Parliament lobby today.

The transport minister also said that airport operations were not affected by the issue of land settlement.

The ministry explained that MAHB had conducted a comprehensive study on the issue and that repair work was conducted to remedy the situation.

Works included the placing of an overlay and repair of the apron’s surface to ensure water did not collect there, Pua explained.