MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has not been told by the government of plans to build an international airport in Kulim, and will need to conduct feasibility studies, its chief executive officer Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin said.

He said MAHB only knew of the proposal from media reports on Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali who announced the airport as among several high-impact projects for Kedah two days ago.

“What we have read in media reports are just early reports. We don’t have any further information, and we will need to get further information.

“At this time, we have no other information other than media reports, so it is too early to comment.

“We have yet to do any studies (in terms of) logistics, needs, and analysis,” Raja Azmi told reporters at an event at Kuala Lumpur International Airport today.

Azmin had announced the RM1.6 billion Kulim International Airport (KXP) as part of projects under the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysia Plan. The airport will be built under a private financing initiative.

The rationale, the minister said, was to equalise development among regions.

The Penang government, however, has reacted warily to news of KXP.

Penang already has an international airport that serves the state’s and northern region’s industrial and business hub. KXP would only be an hour’s drive from the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow yesterday called for a new feasibility study on the proposal for its viability and long-term impact on industries and businesses in Kedah and Penang.

He also asked Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir to explain why he (Mukhriz) had initially said KXP would only be a cargo airport, when an earlier feasibility study by the state said it would be both a passenger and cargo airport.

Chow said that the government should not solely rely on the existing feasibility study if it is done by a private company, since funding for its construction would be a private initiative.

“The government cannot just take what they say on the project feasibility (without checking),” Chow told reporters in Penang yesterday.

There are still no details yet on KXP, except that Kedah has set up a special entity called KXP Airport City Holdings Sdn Bhd to plan, coordinate, and manage the development of the airport.

Mukhriz said last month that parties interested in the KXP project could contact and send their proposals to KXP Airport City office at Wisma PKNK, Jalan Sultan Badlishah in Alor Setar.

According to Transport Minister Anthony Loke, the Kulim airport proposal is to be tabled at a meeting of the National Physical Planning Council, chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad next month.

This has drawn criticism from the opposition, with MCA and Gerakan politicians questioning how the project could be announced if it had yet to be tabled at the meeting, and whether the KXP would kill Penang’s competitiveness. – March 21, 2019.