MIRI – Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd (MAHB) is closing Bay 2 of Miri Airport Terminal apron for repairs and upgrading works, which are expected to be completed by August next year, said state Transport Minister Datuk Seri Lee Kim Shin.
According to MAHB, Bay 2 has deteriorated significantly as the pavement has shown much distress such as cracks, loose stones and uneven surfaces, making it hazardous and dangerous to aircraft.
“The pavement was laid in 1985 and has not undergone any repairs in the past 37 years in use and rehabilitation is urgently needed,” said Lee.
The minister said this at a press conference following a meeting with MAHB officials, including manager Jauhari, yesterday.
Pavement works on concrete slabs of Apron 2 will start in February and are expected to be completed by August 2023, after the completion of the pavement assessment, design and recommendation works, which are now in progress.
This will be preceded by a pre-construction survey, site assessment and testing, design works and mobilisation from November to January 31.
The physical work on the site will take seven months and will include slab rehabilitation, line marking and joint sealant, which must be completed by August 31 for Independence Day celebrations.
According to Lee, Bay 2 has been closed since last month and only two other bays with aerobridges for aircraft and passenger traffic at Miri Airport are in use until the completion of the upgrading works.
Passengers are forced to embark or disembark using the staircase when there are many flights scheduled at the same time, and Lee hopes the public would bear with the inconvenience pending the completion of the project.
The airport is the sixth-busiest airport in Malaysia and the second-busiest in Sarawak.
The two-storey terminal building is able to handle up to two million passengers per annum and it has been operating beyond its designed capacity since 2012.
According to statistics, Miri Airport is the sixth busiest airport in terms of aircraft movements and the sixth busiest in terms of passengers handled. There were 2,363,080 passenger movements and 49,204 aircraft movements in the airport in 2014.
The airlines operating flights using this airport are Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, MasWings, MyAirline and Scoot.
Air traffic has picked up again after it plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions since 2020. Malaysia officially reopened its borders on April 1 this year, doing away with vaccination requirements for those entering the state. – Borneo Post Online, December 21, 2022
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