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| Passengers alighting the inaugural MASwings flight from Brunei to Kota Kinabalu at the KK Airport yesterday in this file photo. Picture: BT fil |
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
SARAWAK may get a new airport in Lawas after the Malaysian prime minister gave indications that the project will be prioritised under the country's 10th national development plan, a minister said yesterday.
The Sarawak government's request for a new airport in Lawas has drawn positive response from Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, according to a Bernama report citing Sarawak Minister of Public Utilities Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.
There are indications that the project would be accorded priority under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015), the minister told reporters following a guest appearance on Radio Television Malaysia's morning talk show "Selamat Pagi Malaysia" in Kuching yesterday.
A site for the new airport has been proposed by the state government, which Awang Tengah said should be able to accommodate aircraft such as the ATR-72. The existing airport can only take smaller aircraft such as the Twin Otter.
The new airport would also facilitate travel by people in southern Sabah, Brunei and Kalimantan in Indonesia, the minister was quoted as saying.
The minister's announcement spells good news for Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) leaders who have repeatedly called for enhanced air connectivity in the region.
Limited air connectivity, a recurring topic in BIMP-EAGA ministerial meetings, is frequently identified as a setback in efforts to develop an area that is increasingly emerging as an economic region.
At the end of a BIMP-EAGA ministerial meeting in Cagayan De Oro, Philippines, in November last year, the ministers agreed to look into ways to enhance aerial connectivity within the region.
In February, MASwings began flying to Bandar Seri Begawan from Kota Kinabalu twice daily and from Kuching to the Brunei capital three times a week. It also operates one flight daily between Kuching and Pontianak, Indonesia.
His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, who chaired the Eighth BIMP-EAGA Summit in Phnom Penh last month, called on ministers to expedite initiatives and projects under the sub-region's "Implementation Blueprint 2012-2016". "Priority infrastructure projects" would contribute towards greater flow of goods, services, investment and people within the sub-region, the monarch said.
On April 16, Sarawak Tourism and Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg announced a proposal for MASwings to fly an additional route on the Kuching-Pontianak-Yogyakarta sector, saying that synergy between Yogyakarta and Sarawak will enable the region to tap into bigger tourism markets like China, Korea and Japan.
Three days later, chief executive officers (CEOs) of key airlines and tour operators from the sub-region gathered in Davao, the Philippines, for a two-day meeting aimed at laying the groundwork for enhanced inter-connectivity between and among the EAGA focus areas, including its world-class tourist destinations that have been dubbed "Equator Asia".
Secretary Luwalhati Antonino, the Philippines' Signing Minister to BIMP-EAGA, told Bernama during the Equator Asia Air Access Forum and Airline CEOs Summit that connectivity has been a major challenge for the Philippines, particularly Mindanao and Palawan, as it was separated by water from the other EAGA member states.
"That is why we are pushing for more airline connectivity with Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, so that there would be freer movement of people, goods and services within the sub-region," she was quoted as saying.
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
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