SEPANG, March 18 — The Malaysian government, via the Transport Ministry, and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) today inked new operating agreements (OAs) for 45 years until February 11, 2069.
Upon signing the agreements, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said the airport operator will continue its role to operate, manage, maintain and develop 39 airports and STOLports (short take-off and landing airports) nationwide.
“Today is a historical day because of this signing of the extension of OAs between the government and MAHB and it will give MAHB enough time and room to make more strategic investments and decisions to upgrade our airports.
“Some of the salient points in the new OAs are that we give flexibility to MAHB to invest in terms of capacity building and upgrading of our airports based on the investment recovery model,” he told the media after the signing ceremony, here, today.
Loke shared that one of the biggest hurdles and challenges that MAHB face in terms of upgrading its airports is the lack of development allocation from the government.
This is as every year, the company, through the Transport Ministry, has to bid for allocation from the Economy Ministry and Finance Ministry, with funding not approved in some of the years.
He also said that there are many smaller airports which need to be upgraded periodically, citing those in Sabah and Sarawak with a lot of potential but are currently under-capacity.
“So, we need to upgrade them as soon as possible so that we can tap into the tourism potential,” he stressed.
Besides the OAs, the government and MAHB also signed a land lease agreement.
The signing of this agreement follows the Cabinet’s approval in principle on February 2, 2023.
Out of the 39 airports in Malaysia, five are international airports, 17 are domestic and the remaining 17 are STOLPorts.
“We will also set up an Airport Development Fund which is part of the OAs, whereby the mechanism will be worked out by the Transport Ministry together with the Finance Ministry that is applicable for new and upgrading of airports.
Meanwhile, in a statement, MAHB acting group chief executive officer Mohamed Rastam Shahrom said the OAs reaffirmed the confidence in the established airport network framework and cross-subsidy model that has effectively served the company over the years.
“Malaysia Airports remains committed to ensuring the highest standards of airport operations and services and continues to enable vital connectivity across Malaysia, spanning both urban hubs and rural communities.
“Furthermore, the new terms grant the group the flexibility to strategically invest in airport development and modernisation as needed, alleviating any financial burden on the government. This is facilitated by the capital return mechanism delineated within the agreements,” he said.
To date, the group’s contributions amounted to approximately RM42.9 billion, encompassing various aspects such as airport development costs, user fee payments to the government, dividend payments to shareholders as well as tax and zakat payments.
At 3.20pm, MAHB shares slipped 1.70 per cent to RM9.24, with 1.97 million shares changing hands.
— Bernama
