Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Sibu Airport upgrade ahead of schedule

SIBU: The RM136.888 million upgrading and redevelopment of Sibu Airport is ahead of schedule, and expected to be completed by Sept 12, 2012, said Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim yesterday.

According to Abdul Rahim, the progress for package 1 is 58.75 per cent and 44.5 per cent for package 2.

“Package 1 is ahead of time by 2.25 per cent while package 2 by 2 per cent. The overall achievement is 53.29 per cent against the scheduled time of 51.14 per cent.

“So, we are ahead of time by 2.15 per cent and upon completion, the capacity of the terminal will increase to about two million. The traffic handled by this airport is about one million passengers,” he told a press conference at the airport.

He revealed that upgrading work comprised extension of the terminal to the east and west wings that will increase the space to about 50,000 sq metres.

There will be parking bays and four aero bridges as well as three open bays.

He disclosed that there would also be extension to the apron to accommodate more aircrafts.

“The redevelopment of Sibu Airport will certainly bring lots of benefits to the town and surrounding areas. Sibu is the gateway to the central region.

“This will bring more comfort and convenience to air passengers as it is more spacious, and add value to the airport. On top of that, it will bring revenue to Malaysia Airport Bhd,” Abdul Rahim said.

He noted that the growth of air passengers each year is in the region of two to three per cent, with the open sky policy of Asean to be implemented in 2015 bringing economic impact in travel and tourism industries.

He added that this was already taking shape, visible with more chartered flights from neighbouring countries, especially China.

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