KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The project to expand and upgrade the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport (LTSIP) in Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan, is expected to be fully completed in September 2024 as planned.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said despite the delay in its progress, the contractor has given a commitment and guarantee to complete the project according to the original schedule.
“As of Feb 25, 2023, the project’s actual progress is 18.19 per cent compared to the original schedule of 43.4 per cent, which is a delay of 25.2 per cent.
“This delay, among other things, is due to manpower shortage (local and foreign) at the project site following the spread of COVID-19 before,” he said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said this in reply to a question from Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) regarding the ministry’s latest plans to utilise LTSIP as a regional aviation hub and become the main gateway to the Indochina market.
The LTSIP expansion and upgrade project is to improve facilities and increase the capacity of the airport terminal from 1.5 million passengers to four million passengers per annum, at a cost of over RM440 million.
Loke said that although LTSIP is not categorised as an international airport or a regional aviation hub, it can still handle scheduled and non-scheduled international flight operations like other domestic airports.
He also said any proposal to increase flight frequency for any route to LTSIP is determined by the airlines based on the commercial viability of the route and is subject to the approval of the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).
