Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) must explain the truth behind the “massive delay” in the completion of the new low-cost carrier terminal KLIA2 as various aspects do not make sense, says DAP.

On Tuesday, after much criticism of  the project, MAHB finally announced that the new completion date as April 30, 2014 .

tony pua yeo bee yin crime police 160613 DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua ( right ) said the 12-month delay from MAHB’s most recent completion date of May 1 was “shocking”, especially when it had purportedly only 7 percent of work remains to be done.

“Clearly the entire story does not add up and MAHB must come clean with the real story behind the massive delay of the airport since its first scheduled completion in September 2011.  

“Not only has the airport been delayed by 31 months, the airport has also busted its budget of RM1.7 billion to its current total of RM4 billion.

“There is certainly a lot more dirt than meets the eye at the RM4 billion mega-scandal at KLIA2, and MAHB must stop lying and hiding the truth from Malaysians as they have done over the past two years,” he said in a statement today.

Pua, who is PJ Utara MP, noted that it was just March 8 that MAHB general manager Faizah Khairuddin announced the completion date as May 1, 2013, and reiterated the this on Mar 28.

NONE However, three weeks ago under pressure from Pakatan it announced the 12-month delay till 2014.

“The new opening date does not tally with all the stories that MAHB and the contractors have been telling Malaysians over the past one year,” said Pua.

He cited last October 8 when Deputy Minister of Transport Abdul Rahim Bakri told Parliament that the terminal was acutally ahead of schedule with 61.92 percent completion as against the targetted 56.9 percent.

And as at May 31, 2013, UEM-Binapuri’s report said 93 percent of the works have already been completed, he said.

“This means that 31 percent  of the works have been completed in 8.5 months, but MAHB is telling us that it will take another 11 months to finish the balance of the 7 percent of works?

Any more problems, MAHB?

Pua also noted that the contractor UEMC-Bina Puri is expected to pay a total of RM63.4 million in liquidated and ascertained damages (LAD), but is already disputing the penalty and has in turn blamed the delays on MAHB.

NONE He said MAHB’s action of penalising UEMC-Bina Puri raises the question of the status of other related contracts and why those contractors have not been similarly penalised for delays.

“Given the mysterious 12 month extension to the KLIA2 deadline, Malaysians want to know what is the exact status on other related projects in KLIA2 which affect the operatability of the airport?  

“In particular, have all the other projects such as the control tower, aircraft aprons and the third runway all been completed as at 30 April 2013?” he asked.

He said for example, the main contractor for the third runway announced that its works were only 80 percent completed as at last June 8, as compared with UEMC-Bina Puri’s balance of 7 percent.

"Then the question that needs to be asked is why the LAD action has been taken only against UEM-Binapuri ... when no action is taken against KUB when 20 percent of the project has yet to be completed as admitted by KUB themselves?" asked Pua.