214 
Lawas Member of Parliament Datuk Henry Sum Agong said the existing Lawas airport was too small and the runway was always hit by floods during the rainy season forcing it to be closed, sometimes up to one week.
“It also can only accommodate the Twin Otter aircraft, (but) with the new airport, bigger aircrafts can operate in Lawas,” he told Bernama when commenting on the proposal to construct the new Lawas airport under the 11MP.
Currently only the 17-seater Twin Otter aircraft operated by Maswings provide the Rural Air Service (RAS) to Lawas.
He said that at the moment, Lawas has huge potential in the tourism industry but that the limited flights there made this northern Sarawak region quite difficult to promote as a tourism destination.
He went on to say that since Lawas shared its border with Sipitang Sabah, many areas of joint cooperation between the two states could be explored futher.
“We can also explore potential beyond Sarawak and Sabah like Kalimantan Indonesia if bigger aircraft can land in the new Lawas airport,” he said.
He said the proposed new airport was long overdue, with the site being identified a long time ago. Once operational, the airport is expected to accomodate the 72-seat ATR 72 operated by Maswings.
Bernama
0 comments:
Post a Comment