KLIA Aeropolis a major boon

Greener pastures: Liow looking at a model of the Aeropolis during the launch of the project. Accompanying Liow at the event in Kuala Lumpur are Badlisham (right) and Malaysia Airports Chairman Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah.

KUALA LUMPUR: The KLIA Aeropolis is expected to attract a gross domestic product (GDP) contribution of some RM30bil over a 15-year period and create 56,000 jobs. It will complement services offered in other regional airports.

“We are not competing with Changi Airport as we are synergistic.

“We are the regional airport and we are working together with other countries.

“We are quite a big region so we will definitely do well in our air cargo area as we are creating more facilities, putting up more plans and support system for the air cargo site,” said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai at a press conference after Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd’s (MAHB) launch of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Aeropolis yesterday.

Liow said with the KLIA Aeropolis project, Malaysia is focused on increa­sing its cargo and logistic traffic.

The country is targeting to increase its cargo volume bby between 2.5 million to 3 million tonnes by 2050 from 726,000 tonnes now and aims to catch up with Singapore’s 1.5 million tonnes of cargo annually, Liow added.

He said the Government has placed a greater concentration to ensure the successful development and completion of the KLIA Aeropolis.

With aviation being a key pillar of the logistics sector, Liow said the inter-ministerial National Logistics Taskforce (NLTF) was keen to see this come to fruition.

“The NLTF is being headed by me and my ministry, and we are equally committed to ensuring synergy between the nation’s logistic industry and the KLIA Aeropolis project.

“With this in mind, there have been close engagements between Malaysia Airports, NLTF, and the Malaysia Aerospace Council,” said Liow.

MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said there was enough demand generated in terms of growth in air travel.

More air passengers would require more planes, spare parts and maintenance.

Badlisham said the KLIA Aeropolis would serve as the core of Malaysia Airport’s air cargo and logistics ecosystem that extends to Penang and Sabah and Sarawak.

The KLIA Aeropolis development is centred around the key clusters of air cargo and logistics; aerospace and aviation parks; meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE), and leisure.

The project, on a total land area of 100 sq km, is one of the strategic pillars in Malaysia Airport’s five-year business plan, Runway to Success 2020.