R S N Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima) said the situation at the airport was embarrassing to locals and tourists alike.
“Do we want to see an airport with “baldis” (buckets) collecting waters? Respectfully sir, we do not.
“I feel Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) should rectify this kind of problems immediately. More importantly, perhaps the entire airport requires a structural check right away to see whether the building is safe and up to mark,” Rayer interjected during state Public Works, Utility and Transport Committee chairman Lim Hock Seng’s (DAP-Bagan Jermal) winding-up speech.
Since a RM250 million upgrade began at the airport in 2009, PIA has had its fair share of problems. Passengers had to contend with discomforts, varying from blackouts, leaks, flooding and ceiling collapses.
Even after the upgrades were completed in June 2012, MAHB has since embarked on fixing problems one by one, with the latest being two giant retention ponds built underground to store floodwaters when the need arises.
High capacity drains were also installed as part of the RM1.5 million upgrade earlier this year.
Lim said the Transport Ministry had applied to the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department for funds to expand the airport through the second rolling plan in Budget 2017.
He said this was timely as the current design only allowed for 6.5 million passengers until 2020. However, he said, the numbers for last year had touched 6.2 million and the airport was bursting at its seams.
Lim said the airport received five million passengers until September this year alone.