The beleaguered Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) has confirmed that the construction of the new KLIA2 low cost terminal was 90 percent completed as of yesterday and the total cost was still below RM4 billion after addressing all variation orders.

The listed company explained that a new date for completion cannot be determined at this stage unless and until a detailed work programme and resource planning by the affected contractors can be scrutinised by the project management team and its consultants but they have yet to be submitted.

"This is to enable MAHB to be convinced that there will be no further slippages on the committed date of completion as had happened in the past.

"MAHB will continue to work closely with the affected contractors to resolve their problems in the most amicable manner for all parties concerned," it said in a statement sent yesterday.

NONE Last Monday Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua  and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar from Pakatan Rakyat had branded MAHB as " incompetent liars " for saying that the terminal will be completed by this month June in a statement released in March, only to state after the elections that it has been delayed indefinitely.

They demanded that the Transport Ministry and MAHB disclose the delay and cost of the construction of the new airport at Sepang.

MAHB reportedly blamed the delay on non-delivery of parts by contractors, and said it will impose liquidated and ascertained damages (LAD) on them.

Hidden issue raises head

In a statement yesterday, Pua continued to question why MAHB had never raised the issue of contractor non-performance and the imposition of LAD before despite the matter having been repeatedly brought up by both him and Nurul Izzah over the past 18 months.

In the statement today, MAHB clarified that initially extensions had been granted to contractors and which had already accounted for all the changes requested from all stakeholders of KLIA2.

"However, MAHB is of the view that there is no justification for any further extension and therefore LAD will apply.

NONE "MAHB believes that the cause for the delay despite repeated commitments was due to insufficient resources to complete the work according to its programme and deadline."

MAHB also claimed that it had foreseen the congestion developing at the current LCCT and had already discussed with low cost carrier AirAsia as well as the other airlines on action plans to manage the capacity issue.

"We will continue to engage them to minimise any inconvenience to passengers. The LCCT is part of the KLIA airport system, and hence will be able to leverage on the overall KLIA capacity.

"The low-cost airline industry had gone through a dynamic phase where its original business model has evolved significantly to what it is today.

"We had to take into account all stakeholder requirements in order to support the future of low-cost airlines in building KLIA2," it added.