Wee (third left) receives a memento from Lee at the dinner as (from left) Gerawat, Henry, Ting and Buckland look on.
MIRI (Dec 4): The Ministry of Transport Malaysia is considering upgrading Miri Airport at a cost of RM60 million, including expansion and extension of runway as well as construction of another aerobridge.
According to its minister Datuk Seri Ir Dr Wee Ka Siong, he will bring the matter for discussion with the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) for approval and funding.
“I’ve been briefed that the cost to expand the airport is RM54 million, while to build an aerobridge will cost RM6 million, bringing the total cost to RM60 million.
“When I go back later, I will discuss this with the Ministry of Finance, EPU and the Prime Minister, on how I can help the people in Sarawak, by upgrading their airline services.
“This is a joint responsibility (with the Sarawak government),” he said in his address at a dinner with transport agencies in Miri last night, replying to Sarawak Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin’s request to upgrade the Miri Airport into an international airport.
He added that the matter should be considered as it had also been forwarded to two previous Transport Ministers including Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, besides the fact that Miri is also a hub for rural air services.
“After looking at the data, I find the upgrading design of this Miri Airport is for two million passengers a year and the airport has been consistent with this capacity annually, from 2013 until 2019. It has had over two millions passengers yearly and the last one (before the Covid-19 pandemic) was 2.4 million,” he said.
He added that from the total of 42 airports, including STOLports (Short Take Off and Landing) in Malaysia, Miri Division alone has nine STOLports and one airport, which is 25 per cent of the total.
“From this data, one of the most important components is Rural Air Services (RAS). Even though it’s only five per cent of the total passengers, the effect is huge. Without this service, land transport (via logging roads) will take 12 hours to Bario,” he said.
He pointed out that RAS to rural areas such as Ba Kelalan, Bario, Long Banga and Long Seridan normally fly up to 18 to 19 passengers using the Twin Otter aircraft. But due to the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP), each flight is limited to up to nine passengers only.
To overcome this problem, Wee said he had discussed the matter with the chief executive officer of Civil Aviation Authority Malaysia (CAAM) Captain Chester Voo on how to overcome this problem.
“It is understood that soon there will be a state election and this will be an issue. Therefore, we will think of a solution including using a specific technology, as suggested by Captain Chester,” he said without disclosing more details.
He added that the most important thing is for the matter to be discussed professionally, to ensure safety at all STOLports.
“Safety is a very important aspect and we cannot simply do things that might jeopardise it. We will bring this matter to the relevant authority with detailed research,” he said.
Also present at the dinner apart from Lee, were Deputy Minister of Transport Datuk Henry Sum Agong; Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting; Mulu incumbent Datuk Gerawat Gala; Sibuti MP Lukanisman Awang Sauni and Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Transport Datu Buckland Bangik.