KLIA2 - New Mega Low Cost Carriers Terminal

[alberttky 0]

The airport fiasco presents a staggering picture of incompetence.

My favorite sentence!

[Fairul 0]

It is interesting to compare this fiasco with another fiasco at the other side of the world,

Germany, Berlin Willy Brandt International Airport.

 

Here are a few gems.

 

The new Berlin airport was supposed to have been up and running in late 2011, a sign of Berlin’s transformation from Cold War confrontation line to world class capital of Europe’s economic powerhouse. Instead it has become a symbol of how, even for this technological titan, things can go horribly wrong. After four publicly announced delays, officials acknowledged the airport will not be ready by the latest target: October this year. To spare themselves further embarrassment, officials have refused to set a new opening date.

 

The airport fiasco presents a staggering picture of incompetence. German media have tracked down a list of tens of thousands of technical problems.

After a series of disputes with private investors, the city, state and federal governments eventually took over the airport project. In2006, costs were estimated at 2 billion euros, but after four delays,the figure spiked to 4.4 billion euros. Read more here:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/print/2013/04/11/2003559321

 

However, they also figured out finally what to do next. Apparently they have fired the whole incompetent lot who made a mess out of it and appointed a hard hitter, take no prisoners, type of guy to get the job done, true German style.

Read here: http://www.eturbonews.com/print/34292

 

Lets see what wil happen with these two airports, KLIA2 and the new Berlin airport. It will be an interesting comparison.

 

Cheers

A.v.S.

 

and in the middle between both side we have Hamad International Airport in Doha.....our parts completed for the past few months...yet to be opened

Edited May 30, 2013 by Fairul

[alberttky 0]

Because the chief not happy with something.

[nrazmoor 0]

Luckily ours only LCCT unlike BER and DOH 😁

[alberttky 0]

maybe ours will turn out to be even worse.

[JuliusWong 0]

If the current government can rigged an election just to stay in power, I don't see any reason how they can get the project done on time. The cost has ballooned from initial RM1.7 billion to RM4.4 billion! And yet it is behind schedule.........Something must have gone very wrong somewhere!~~~~

 

Plus there are stories in the press stating that the soil at the KLIA2 are not suitable for construction.....God bless the users! Wait, which is us.......

Edited June 1, 2013 by JuliusWong

[BC Tam 2]

The contractor may have their bond forfeited and they may eventually go belly up...

If the said contractor managed to secure business of undertaking a project of this magnitude to start with, cost already like doubled up at last count and four previous deadlines come and gone without so much as a slap on the wrist - you still think it will be allowed to go belly up ?!

Edited June 1, 2013 by BC Tam

[Mulyadir Fitri 0]

The soil in that area indeed is not suitable for building such a large scale terminal. which was the reason why in the late Kisho Kurokawa's master plan, with 4 satellites, 2 MTBs and 4 runways, they did not plan for any major airport structures there.

[Mulyadir Fitri 0]

KUALA LUMPUR: Three main contractors for the klia2 project said yesterday they are not to be blamed for the delay in the completion of the new low-cost airline terminal.

 

Checks by Business Times showed that KUB Malaysia Bhd, WCT Bhd and UEM Group Bhd are the three contractors yet to complete their portions of the construction work.

 

Do not worry about our performance. The job is 80 per cent completed and on track, KUB group managing director Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Wan Ahmad told Business Times.

 

He denied that KUB is causing the delay but declined to provide a completion date.

 

KUB was awarded a RM268.79 million contract to build Runway 3 and parallel connecting taxiways.

 

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said on Tuesday that it may impose liquidated and ascertained damages (LAD) on those contractors yet to complete their portion of work on time.

 

Business Times understands that MAHB can impose a LAD of as much as RM200,000 a day on the contractors if they are late in handing

over their portion of job to the airport operator.

 

MAHBs plan to claim LAD from the contractors comes just weeks after research firm CIMB Research said the cost of building klia2 may rise to above RM4 billion.

 

Furthermore, as contractors are putting up variation orders to MAHB, there is a risk that the capital expenditure cost will rise above the RM4 billion in our model, CIMB Research analyst

Calvin Yew wrote in a report in April.

 

Meanwhile, UEM was tight-lipped as to whether it will be asking for additional money in the form of variation order to complete the job.

 

We cant comment on this now. We are trying to complete our work and hand over the job, said a company official.

 

UEM Construction Sdn Bhd, a unit of UEM Group, and joint venture partner Bina Puri Holdings Bhd were given a RM977.22 million job to build the main buildings at klia2 in early 2011.

 

Business Times understands that WCT has also yet to complete the mall portion of klia2.

 

The company, via its 70 per cent-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV), was awarded the buildoperate-transfer concession for the development of an integrated complex at the terminal.

 

The SPV is building a complex comprising a transport hub and a mall for RM530 million.

 

The balance 30 per cent in the SPV is owned by MAHB.

 

The mall portion, which consists of 225 retail outlets, may only be completed in the fourth quarter of the year.

 

Checks with Gadang Holdings Bhd, the other contractor involved in the klia2 project, showed that it has completed its portion of the work.

 

The company was awarded the RM291.2 million Runway 3 contract in 2010 and had handed it over to MAHB on August 28 last year.,

 

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130601000909/Article/index_html#ixzz2UvhsQmtZ

 

[JuliusWong 0]

Let the mud slinging begins.....lolx!

 

The soil in that area indeed is not suitable for building such a large scale terminal. which was the reason why in the late Kisho Kurokawa's master plan, with 4 satellites, 2 MTBs and 4 runways, they did not plan for any major airport structures there.

OMG, how can they do such unethical development? We may have a new KLIA2, but with cracks soon...............

[JingKai Seah 0]

Let the mud slinging begins.....lolx!

 

OMG, how can they do such unethical development? We may have a new KLIA2, but with cracks soon...............

Mmm.. Potholes on runway anyone?

[flee 5]

Extensions, job scope delaying klia2

 

FOURTH EXTENSION?: Terminal expected to be completed in first quarter of next year

The completion of klia2, the new lowcost terminal in Sepang, has been delayed because certain contractors kept asking for extension.

The completion date has been delayed three times. It was to be completed in April 2012 but was delayed to October 2012 and

then April 2013 before the latest June 28 deadline, which now has also been revised.

The airport, which is designed to handle 45 million passengers a year, is now expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year, said a source.

The source said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) was promised that the airport’s terminal building would be completed on May 1, which was why it committed to the June 28 opening.

“However, the contractors notified MAHB two weeks ago that they could not meet the deadline and have asked to extend the klia2 opening date to February 1 2014,” the source said.

Another factor that contributed to the delay was changes to the job scope, the source said.

He told Business Times that the many changes led the work packages to rise from 37 to 51.

This in turn had caused the cost to balloon to RM4 billion from the original RM2 billion.

Due to these factors, it is unfair to point fingers at MAHB for the delays, said the source.

klia2 was conceptualised under the National Airport Master Plan, which was finalised in 2008 under two consultants, namely KLIA Consultancy Services (KLICS), a consultant for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport project, and Netherland Airport Consultants B.V.(NACO).

“In 2009, MAHB, under instructions from the Finance Ministry, appointed KLICS as the project management consultant. Its scope was to handle the design, construction, consultancy and tendering processes,” said the source.

MAHB was tasked by the ministry to award the tenders to eligible contractors.

However, MAHB decided to take over as klia2 project manager in 2011 after the project was delayed, the source said.

“The terminal building was 166 days late, runaway was 244 days late and earthwork for the apron was 82 days late.”

The terminal’s original plan was to cater to 20 million passengers a year. However, MAHB decided to increase the terminal’s size due to the booming budget travel sector.

According to the source, the scope changes include a 71.3 per cent increase in terminal size from 150,000 square metres to 257,000 sq m, installation of a fully automated baggage handling

system, an additional 68 gates and 80 aerobridges and taller air traffic control tower from 77m to 93m.

“Currently, the new terminal is about 90 per cent completed, except for the terminal building,” said another source.

Some of the work like the installation of the automatic baggage handling system and ticketing counters cannot be started as the main terminal building has yet to be completed.

MAHB had announced to Bursa Malaysia recently that it “will impose liquidated ascertained damages on those contractors and any other recourse available to the operator under contract”.

The sources revealed that the contractors could pay up to RM200,000 a day if more delays occur.

Read more: Extensions, job scope delaying klia2 http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130603000734/Article/index_html

[Fairul 0]

Mmm.. Potholes on runway anyone?

 

I'm sure that proper soil treatment has been carried out during construction phase,...but i'm not going to rule out that defects wont appear..I expect rutting / potholes and undulating pavement surface to happen..if all defects appear within 1-2 yrs of operation, all these still under liability period where the contractors will bear the cost.

[Najib Ramli 0]

I'm sure that proper soil treatment has been carried out during construction phase,...but i'm not going to rule out that defects wont appear..I expect rutting / potholes and undulating pavement surface to happen..if all defects appear within 1-2 yrs of operation, all these still under liability period where the contractors will bear the cost.

 

i second this statement...proper soil treatment should have occurred prior to the construction and looking at track record of contractors, part of which is UEM; one of the contractors of the original LRT lines which so far has not experienced any issues, I'm pretty sure that this has been taken care off...

 

yes defects can occur, oversights can happen but this is true for almost every construction projects which is why i support not to rush the KLIA 2 project until it's really ready for opening...

 

furthermore, KLIA 2 is much different at the final specs compared to when it was first mooted...definitely cost would balloon and construction period would increase...it's quite unfair to quote the original price as comparison with the current estimated cost as things are definitely different, a more constructive criticism would be to ask what scope of work involved the additional cost etc as compared to the original estimate...

 

i'm not trying to defend any parties here..but just voicing out my opinion as i do work in an industry where cost can more than double and deadline extended 3-4 times the original estimate due to unexpected issues or change in plans...but rather than jump the gun and point fingers we look at the issues encountered and make a comparison between the original plan and actual progress and figure out what changes and why....

[Cire 0]

The completion shouldn't be rushed into. Can't they just concentrate on opening the terminal in gradual stages so as to ease the present congestion in LCCT?

[flee 5]

Staged opening is a good idea.

 

However, the flight operations should be 100% opened and the LCCT is closed. Otherwise, there will be massive confusion as passengers will not know which terminal they are flying from!

[KK Lee 5]

I'm sure that proper soil treatment has been carried out during construction phase,...but i'm not going to rule out that defects wont appear..I expect rutting / potholes and undulating pavement surface to happen..if all defects appear within 1-2 yrs of operation, all these still under liability period where the contractors will bear the cost.

 

 

Believe only apron is piled, the rest of un-piled taxiway expect to settle about 1 meter in 3 years. Don't think any contractor can be liable if this condition is made known to MAHB and MAHB preferred to top up later.

 

 

Extensions, job scope delaying klia2

 

According to the source, the scope changes include a 71.3 per cent increase in terminal size from 150,000 square metres to 257,000 sq m, installation of a fully automated baggage handling

system, an additional 68 gates and 80 aerobridges and taller air traffic control tower from 77m to 93m.

 

Increased in building size is believed to accommodate more shops and eateries.

[Wi Ching 0]

Believe only apron is piled, the rest of un-piled taxiway expect to settle about 1 meter in 3 years. Don't think any contractor can be liable if this condition is made known to MAHB and MAHB preferred to top up later.

 

 

Increased in building size is believed to accommodate more shops and eateries.

 

Increase in building size is to handle more passenger traffic up to 45 million, but base on MAHB forecast, KLIA2 will reach 45m passenger traffic in 2028+-. event Airasia forecast KLIA 2 can reach 45m passenger traffic in 2020. seriously event i thinking KLIA2 is a bit small ......

Don't think taxiway is un-piled, maybe we can see the construction photo weather is piled or not.

[flee 5]

I wonder if the terminal building can be jacked up when it sinks, like what they do at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan.

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

Uniform settlement is ok as long as it is not differential settlement. It makes sense that the apron is piled, hence there is no / minimal differential settlement between the apron & terminal building which is on piled foundation as well. If the taxiway is unpiled, then there will be a transition slab between taxiway (unpiled) & apron (piled).

[alberttky 0]

AirAsia has Plan B on KLIA2 opening delay

 

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Bhd will not be affected by the delay in the opening of KLIA2, as it has been expected and it has a backup plan to ensure that the impact from the delay will be minimised, said AirAsiachief executive officer Aireen Omar.

“It (Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd) made an announcement that KLIA2 won’t be opened on June 28. We are disappointed because it was supposed to be opened back in 2011 and now it has been delayed again.

“We will work closely with it and we hope it will come back with a more certain date for AirAsia to be able to operate from there,” she said after the company’s shareholders meeting here yesterday.

The completion date for the new low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) KLIA2, has been revised several times due to changes made from the original plan. Changes included building a bigger terminal that can handle more than 40 million passengers and installing an automated baggage handling system.

KLIA2 will have some 60 gates, 80 aerobridges, and retail space spanning 32,000 sq m. The project was first tendered out in 2009 at an initial cost of RM1.9bil which has ballooned to some RM4bil with the bigger capacity plans. AirAsia is expected to be the main user of KLIA2.

She added that AirAsia’s backup plan would involve optimising its resources to ensure that the impact was minimised.

“The LCCT in Sepang now has a capacity of 15 million people. Yes, there is overcapacity but we can still operate from it. Last year itself we drew in 20 million passengers. So naturally it is not going to be so comfortable because is is a very crowded airport,” she said.

Aireen added that AirAsia was expecting a passenger growth of 10% this year.

Asked about AirAsia’s lower first quarter net profit numbers, she said that this was due more to an accounting treatment.

AirAsia’s net profit dropped 39% to RM104.8mil in the first quarter ended March 31 from RM172.4mil in the same quarter last year. The lower earnings were due to foreign exchange loss on borrowings, higher finance cost and AirAsia Japan’s net loss.

“The first quarter’s drop in net profit was not an operational or cash item. It was an accounting treatment for the foreign translation of debt for US dollar. It is an accounting reporting item, whereby the foreign exchange had weakened,” she said.

Nonetheless, Aireen is optimistic looking forward, saying that she is very positive and excited for the year even without KLIA2 being ready.

“Yes there will be competition, but this year will be very good. We will be more efficient, yield where there is yield, monitor our cost and optimise our resources,”

“There is so much growth happening in our region. We have more than 150 routes, while Thailand and Indonesia are growing strongly. We also have our new markets in Japan, and soon in India. With all these happening, we are expecting traffic to Malaysia to also increase,” she said.

On the operations of AirAsia in India, Aireen said that a CEO had been appointed, and operations could be launched by year end.

“It is still in the infant stage and they are doing the nescessary groundwork,” she said.

Previously, AirAsia has signed deals with Tata Sons Ltd and Telestra Tradeplace Pvt Ltd to set up AirAsia India, has submitted a no-objection certificate application to India’s Civil Aviation Ministry.

It had been reported that AirAsia India is expected to commence operations in September subject to obtaining the relevant regulatory approvals.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/6/5/business/13198826&sec=business

[flee 5]

UEM, Bina Puri seek RM300m from MAHB

KLIA2 PROJECT: Joint venture claiming for additional work at main terminal and satellite buildings, says source

The UEM-Bina Puri joint venture (JV) is seeking as much as RM300 million from Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) for additional works being done at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) project, a person with first-hand knowledge of the matter says.

It is learnt that MAHB has requested the joint venture to expand the floor area at the airport’s main terminal and satellite buildings to cater to requirements from various government agencies.

A source said extra floor space is also required at the three-storey main terminal building to cater to Malindo Air, Malaysia’s newest domestic low-cost carrier, which plans to move to klia2 when it opens next year.

The country’s biggest airport operator, however, was adamant on the liquidated and ascertained damages (LAD) charges.

“The LAD will be imposed on contractors who have breached their contractual obligations,” MAHB said in a statement.

The klia2 was slated to open on June 28 this year, but the source said it may only operate a year from now.

The UEM-Bina Puri JV won a RM997.2 million contract in June 2010 to build the main terminal and satellite buildings, a sky bridge and four piers. The joint venture commenced work in August 2010 and was slated to complete it by April this year.

UEM Construction Sdn Bhd, a unit of UEM Group Bhd, holds a 60 per cent stake in the joint venture and it is building the main terminal and two piers.

Bina Puri is constructing two piers, the satellite building and the sky bridge.

“The joint venture is taking longer than anticipated to complete its work because of the additional requirements.

They are submitting progressive additional claims to MAHB for the works done,” the source said.

MAHB said last week that it may impose LAD on contractors yet to complete their portions of work on time.

Business Times reported recently that MAHB can impose a LAD of as much as RM200,000 a day on contractors that are late in handing over their work.

At a fund managers briefing yesterday, Bina Puri executive director Matthew Tee expressed confidence that the company will not have to pay LAD to MAHB for the delay.

Tee said MAHB has approached all the contractors involved in the project and will determine soon which parties are responsible for the delay.

"The joint venture has completed 93 per cent of the job. We need a few more months and are confident of handing over the job to MAHB by the fourth quarter of this year," he said.

Tee said Bina Puri has applied for time extension till September or October this year to put the finishing touches on its works at klia2.

Besides UEM, other parties blamed for the delay in the new low-cost terminal are KUB Malaysia Bhd and WCT Bhd.

KUB group managing director Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Wan Ahmad has said its RM268.79 million contract to build Runway 3 and the parallel connecting taxiways is about 80 per cent completed.

Read more: UEM, Bina Puri seek RM300m from MAHB http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130605004258/Article/index_html

 

[flee 5]

MAHB must take responsibility for KLIA2 delay, release KPMG’s report

 

KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) should take full responsiblity for the repeated delays on the KLIA2 project which had ballooned in cost, DAP’s Tony Pua has said when commenting on the “explosive blame game” between the airport operating firm and its contractors.

The DAP publicity chief pointed out that MAHB has said that it will impose liquidated and ascertained damages (LAD) on the contractors who had allegedly caused the delays with their non-delivery of parts of the project, but cast doubt on the claim that the contractors were to be blamed.

KLIA2’s main contractors had denied the claim and instead blamed project owner MAHB “who allegedly made repeated variation orders to the original contract”, Pua said.

“While we are not privy to the details of the dispute which is now triggering the blame game between the various parties, the question that needs to be asked is, after nearly 2 years of delay, why is it that MAHB is only coming out for the first time to blame the contractors? If it is really the contractors who are at fault, why haven’t they been penalised with the LAD since September 2011?” Pua asked in a statement today.

“At the end of the day, the buck stops with MAHB as the project manager and owner and the entire top management of MAHB must bear full responsbility for embarrassment and fiasco,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP later added.

Pua said MAHB’s managing director Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad’s contract should not be renewed when it ends this month, noting that it was extended last year.

He accused Bashir, who has led the listed firm MAHB for nine years, of failing to manage the KLIA2 project competently.

“A competent successor must immediately be found to clean up the mess in MAHB to ensure that there are no further delays to the completion of the airport as well as capping the cost to taxpayers for the project,” Pua said.

He noted that the airport’s cost had jumped from less than RM 2 billion to RM4 billion, saying it was an irony for MAHB chief financial officer (CFO) Faizal Mansor to be named the Best CFO for Investor Relations (Mid Cap category) by the Malaysian Investor Relations Association (MIRA).

“This drastic increase in cost has resulted in MAHB having to raise bonds amount to RM3.1 billion to date, with another RM1 billion expected to be raised in the near future, causing MAHB to take on debt which may not have been necessary in the first place.

“However, the ultimate losers on the “low cost” airport which busted the budget will be the Malaysian travellers who will have to bear the cost of higher airport taxes for MAHB to repay its debts. This will also severely impact Malaysia’s competitiveness as the hub for low-cost carriers in the Asia region.

Pua also urged the government to release audit firm KPMG’s independent report on the KLIA2 project, having noted that the airport’s cost had jumped from less than RM2 billion to RM4 billion.

“We call upon the Ministry of Transport to make public the report given the scale of the scandal and the public interest involved. All those found guilty of negligence must be brought to book.”

Yesterday, Bina Puri Holdings Bhd’s executive director Matthew Tee Kai Woon reportedly said the UEM-Bina Puri consortium would not have to pay MAHB any LAD, claiming that the delays were due to the numerous changes made to the KLIA2 project, with MAHB having differing opinions with companies using the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT).

Tee said that UEM-Bina Puri had asked for an extension of time on the project until this September or October, state news agency Bernama reported.

But Bernama reported on the same day that MAHB said the LAD will still be imposed on contractors who had not fulfilled their obligations under the contracts for the KLIA2 project.

Last Monday, Pua and PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar listed four demands on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his new government, including the final bill from MAHB for KLIA2’s cost, the actual deadline for the project, a meeting with the new acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and an independent audit on the entire project.

Najib had announced in January this year that the KLIA2 terminal would be completed by May but this was subsequently delayed to June 28.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia two days after the May 5 election, MAHB admitted that contractors were unlikely to make the June 28 deadline. On May 9, MAHB chief financial officer Faizal Mansor told Bernama that the deadline would be pushed back indefinitely.

In a Bernama report on May 9, RHB Research analyst Ahmad Maghfur Usman said that the delay to the airport’s completion date would likely go on for as long as six months.

“Even if the new terminal can be completed by September after a two-month delay, MAHB would still need to carry out operational trial runs, that may require at least four months,” he was quoted saying.

Some 10 airlines have committed to operate from the new KLIA2, which was mooted to cater to the growth in demands for low-cost travel.

KLIA2, which is expected to cater to 45 million passengers per annum, will have 60 gates, eight remote stands and 80 aerobridges, and a 32,000 square metre retail space with 225 outlets.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pua-mahb-must-take-responsibility-for-klia2-delay-release-kpmgs-report/

 

[Naim 6]

This is damning!

 

"Bina Puri Holdings Bhd, one of the contractors for klia2, acknowledged that the delay was caused by indecisive moves by both MAHB and AirAsia with regard to the design of the terminal and the facilities to be installed."

 

http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/mobile/article.php?id=240954&pid=2

[Naim 6]

Tough talk!

 

RT @mainstreamedia: NST NEWS: No justification for any further extension of KLIA2 - MAHB: KUALA LUMPUR: There is no justification ... http://bit.ly/18VXiSd