Sabah did not pay a single sen for feasibility study on KKIA proposed relocation

KOTA KINABALU - Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said there were no payments made to the company that conducted a feasibility study on the plan to relocate the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) to Kimanis, Papar.

He said the appointment of two state government companies namely Qhazanah Sabah Bhd (QSB) and the Berjaya Land Bhd (BLB) to implement the study was agreed by the Sabah government.

"We agree to appoint the Berjaya Group because we are confident in the company's experience in such cases, however, we also need a government subsidiary involved. Even though Qhazanah does not have much experience, it is important for the government to be involved.

"For the record, Qhazanah did not pay a single sen to conduct the research on the possibility of this airport. So, neither Qhazanah nor the government were involved or had financed this research," he said at the Sabah state legislative assembly sitting on Wednesday.

He said this when answering to a suplementary question by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Senallang-Warisan) regarding BLB's experience and several payments made by the government to the company to conduct the study.

The Sabah Finance Minister added that the state was confident that BLB was capable to manage the research and proceed with the cooperation with consultants that were experienced following the proposed development of the airport.

"The government will not pay anything to BLB although it might not have any experience in this matter.

"However, I am confident that they are making an 'engagement' with consultants in and outside of the country which have experience on the proposed development of the airport," he said.

Responding to the same issue from Phoong Jin Zhe (Luyang-DAP), Assistant Minister to the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the statistics of passenger movement at KKIA in 2019 recorded 9.4 million passengers a year which exceeded the actual capacity.

"However, the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected the traffic flow of passengers in KKIA.

"The total passengers in 2020 dropped drastically while traffic was expected to recover fully in three years like during the pre Covid-19 pandemic," he said.

He said looking at Sabah with its big potential in the tourism sector, the flow of traffic was sure to increase from time to time.

"The rapid development of Kota Kinabalu city centre may not be able to cover the need to upgrade the existing airport in the future.

"We should look at this study positively by taking the example of the relocation of the Subang airport to Sepang that brought inclusive development.

"We hope that if the results of the study shows that this project is viable to be implemented, it will eventually have a spillover effect towards the development of Kimanis and the surrounding areas," he said.