The building of a new Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) will be completed by the end of 2011 although its construction faced some delay, said Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri.

This was established at a weekly meeting between the project's management consultant and the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) on Nov 10, he said when replying to a supplementary question by Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

"The project's progress should be 15.5 percent but right now it is 13.5 percent. Based on the current status the delay is two percent or 18 days," he said.

The delay was caused by the delay in approval by the Finance Ministry for certain packages besides delay in design and procurement for the control tower, said, Abdul Rahim.

In that regard, he said the ministry will monitor the progress of the project which was now in the design preparation stage.

When answering the original question by Ab Halim Ab Rahman (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa) as to whether the number of AirAsia passengers would be between 10 and 15 million by 2015 as well as the government's action to build or expand the LCCT, he said the new LCCT could handle up to 30 million passengers a year.

"The government agreed to the project after we found the number of AirAsia passengers was rising and we estimated it can reach up to 15 million by 2015," he said.

The new LCCT will replace the present terminal and will be located next to the KLIA.

- Bernama