KUALA Lumpur is not short of keen investors who want to be players in the local aerospace industry. This is the main driver of the renewed ambition of turning Malaysia into a global aerospace hub.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told the New Straits Times that a project to build a world-class aerospace development hub in Subang, Selangor, which was initially mooted in 1997, had been put on the backburner due to a lack of investors.
“However, a change in the world aerospace industry climate has brought about renewed interest, and many investors have expressed desire to turn Malaysia into an international aerospace hub.”
Lim said this eventually led the government to transfer the ownership of a 32ha plot of land to Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) to revive the project with the help of agencies such as Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).
“Many years ago, the project did not take off because there was no authoritative investor. But now there is one.
“So, I am confident that it will be implemented. That is why they (investors) repeatedly asked for it (the development of a 32ha plot of land for the aerospace development hub) to be included in the 2019 Budget.
“It reflected their confidence in the project. At the same time, we agreed to help transfer the land ownership to Khazanah.”
He, however, preferred not to reveal the investor involved in the project’s revival.
Lim had announced during the tabling of the 2019 Budget last Friday that Khazanah would lead and develop the project to set up a world-class aerospace industry hub in Subang.
Khazanah would be tasked with working with relevant agencies, especially Mara, to produce highly-skilled workers to meet the demand of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The project, which was known 21 years ago as the Subang International Aviation and Aerospace Park (SIAP), was envisioned as a regional aircraft component manufacturing and overhaul facility.
Former Malaysia Airlines (aerospace development) vice-president Sitham Nadarajah said the government’s decision to revive the mega project would help turn Malaysia into a leading player in the aerospace industry.
He said this was possible despite Malaysia facing stiff competition from Singapore.
Sitham, who was among the movers and shakers behind SIAP when it was slated to begin construction in 2000, said the government was not required to go through entirely new proposals and working papers for the project again.
Instead, he said, it only needed to breathe new life into the existing master plan.
“If we look back at the chain of events, SIAP had recorded a 40 per cent progress rate. So the government could re-look the original master plan and make adjustments based on the current demands in the industry to expedite the execution.
“Malaysia has an advantage because it has allocated billions of ringgit for the acquisition of planes. Our country is in the best position to enter agreements with aircraft manufacturers.
“Previously, we had successfully entered agreements with eight aircraft companies to set up a regional base in SIAP.
“Among them were Rolls Royce Plc, Hamilton Sunstrand, Boeing Co., Allied Signal, General Electric (GE) and MTU from Germany,” he said.
When commenting on the feasibility of setting up an aerospace hub, Sitham said the idea came from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad during his tenure as the fourth prime minister.
He said the project relied on the work of the previous committee comprising representatives from the Malaysian Aviation Council and Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (Might).
Sitham said the government’s strategic plan to dominate the regional aerospace industry in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector was timely.
He said the move to include the project in the 2019 Budget would help prevent brain drain to neighbouring countries, the Middle East or Europe.
He said local engineers had been instrumental in the success of Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s foray into aircraft MRO, which began in 1983.
In explaining how Malaysians had thrived in this field, Sitham said local engineers and other experts had been maintaining the airline’s fleet for many years and their skills were recognised by industry players in Thailand, Indonesia and the European Union.
He said those countries sent their aircraft to Malaysia for MRO services as they trusted the Malaysian expertise.
However, Sitham said the situation would be more rewarding if better infrastructure had been provided to local experts in the aerospace industry in the past.
“I am disappointed that only one out of five hangars in Subang was revived, while the remaining hangars were left to rot,” he said.