Sendayan is new site for air force base

GEMAS: A new air force base will be built in Sendayan near Seremban to replace the Sungai Besi base which is expected to cease operations by the end of the year.

It is understood that the new base will be located close to the low-cost carrier terminal and the KL International Airport in Sepang.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said details of the project would be announced in due course.

“The air base will be built in Sendayan. We have agreed on this. Other details will follow suit,” he told reporters after opening the Community Rehabilitation Centre at Kem Syed Sirajuddin near here.

The Government had awarded the Sungai Besi airport site to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) last year to be developed into a multi-billion ringgit commercial project which will include residential, commercial and recreational areas as well as a library, public park and square.

1MDB, which is a wholly-owned government agency, has also obtained approval from the Federal Government to redevelop about 160ha of the Sungai Besi Airport site into a Bandar Malaysia project.

Its main partner in the project will be the Qatar Investment Authority.

In Muar, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the building and transferring of facilities from the Sungai Besi air force base to Sendayan would take at least 60 months.

He added that the cost of the project would be fully undertaken by the development company, which planned to develop a major commercial and residential centre on the old air base site.

All facilities available at the old air base will also be replaced with new and modern facilities.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said the developers would have to complete building the new air base before they could carry out the proposed developments at the Sungai Besi air base.