GEORGE TOWN: Penang hopes the expansion of the Penang International Airport (PIA) can start this year and be completed in three years.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, in welcoming the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the 2023 Budget, said he hoped the airport's capacity could be expanded to 20 million travellers a year.
"The airport expansion will boost socio-economic development in the Northern Corridor states and Penang's tourism and industries.
"The Penang government will fully support the Transport Ministry and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) in the implementation of the project. We hope the project can start this year and be completed in three years."
When tabling the 2023 Budget in Parliament today, Anwar announced a project to expand the PIA and Subang Airport and halted plans to build a new airport in Kulim.
He said the expansion of the two airports, to be spearheaded by MAHB, would benefit the economy at a cost that is much lower than the cost of building a new airport in Kulim, which is estimated to cost RM7 billion.
State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin thanked Anwar and Transport Minister Anthony Loke for greenlighting the expansion of the PIA under the 2023 Budget.
He said he had discussed PIA's expansion plan with Loke in hopes the project could be kickstarted with the support of the federal government.
"We have been meeting various international airlines to plan direct flights to Penang, but the limited space of the airport apron and terminals are major hindrances to starting new direct flight routes.
"This makes the 2023 Budget allocation for the airport expansion all the more crucial."
On another matter, Chow said Penang welcomed the RM50 million allocation to help George Town and Melaka with heritage conservation.
"We will work with the relevant ministry to finalise the best projects and programmes for George Town.
"The last time the federal government provided an allocation for heritage work in Penang was when George Town was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
"The federal government of today cares about Penang, which has long been neglected.
"It is a good gesture from the finance minister towards Penang, although many infrastructure projects still need to be implemented to help Penang overcome development constraints.
"The state government will continue to work with ministries to obtain approvals for our applications."
In 2013, the PIA was upgraded to improve its capacity to 6.5 million passengers per annum. But passenger growth exploded and by 2019, passenger arrivals had far exceeded that number to 8.3 million passengers per annum.
During the previous Pakatan Harapan federal administration, the Transport Ministry approved a proposal to expand the airport to a minimum capacity of 12 million passengers per annum.
Planning permission was submitted to the local authorities and work had been scheduled to begin when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
The airport expansion project was put on hold after the change in the federal government in early 2020.
The federal government had said then that all airport expansion plans nationwide would be postponed pending the finalisation of the National Airport Strategic Plan study.
On Aug 2, 2021, the Kedah government signed a joint venture agreement with ECK Group to build the Kulim International Airport.