Pua pushes Liow to keep his word on KLIA2 audit

Tony Pua says transport minister’s endorsement for a KLIA2 audit is “better late than never” but wants Liow to keep his word the audit will be done.

PETALING JAYA: DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua has urged the transport minister to write without delay to the Auditor-General on behalf of the Cabinet to instruct his office to audit the RM4 billion Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2(KLIA2) by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

In a statement, Pua, who is also MP for Petaling Jaya Utara said that Liow Tiong Lai’s endorsement of the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) key recommendation for an audit took its time in coming but was nevertheless “better late than never”.

“It took six weeks for the Minister to verbally endorse the recommendations, hence we certainly hope that it will not take an even longer time for him to deliver the instructions for the special audit by the AG,” Pua said.

He also said it was now time for Liow to follow through on his verbal endorsement and not drag his feet in ensuring the AG’s audit did indeed take place.

“As the Minister responsible for the civil aviation industry in Malaysia, he must ensure that the specific instruction to carry out the audit by the AG’s office is carried out.”

Pua said the KLIA2 project had become something of a scandal in Malaysia as its original budget of RM1.7 billion had ballooned to RM4 billion.

The PAC report also found “many suspicious and controversial decisions” were made by MAHB that led to subsequent delays in the airport’s completion.

There were also design and location issues as well as the decision to go ahead with a satellite-type terminal instead of a finger pier terminal as proposed by airport consultants.