Today it has been confirmed in the Star Online that Ipoh's airport will get a RM60 million extention of the runway and antoher facelift to the terminal building! I have presented my views in many local newspaper and blogs about the waste of effort to improve the present Ipoh Airport and have cited various reasons for it. Of course, my opinion would fall on deaf ears as the ringing of money people can make from a huge project like this one will drive them deaf to other warnings!
The ADUN spoke of Perak's potential for tourism as one of the reasons (a weak one) for extending the runway to take in more flights. Until and unless we have the tourists and that comes about when the Perak Government knows how to attract tourists by promoting and ensuring that all our tourists attractions are well maintained and kept, it is pointless to expand the airport first! It is a case of the chicken and the egg but in this case, it is not so complex! You can have the best airport in the world and the best attractions but when you do not develop the tourist attractions and promote it right, there will be no tourists and therefore no flights coming in and out of Ipoh Airport!
Secondly, these people keep on ignoring the danger posed by the airport as there are large housing projects all round the present airport since it was closed some time back, people started buying houses and developers kept on developing around the airport! Should there by an accidental crash landing, many will DIE!
Ipoh is surrounded by high mountain ranges on both sides and dotted with limestone hills making landing rather limited! Any bad weather situation will make it impossible to land and many flights have been diverted to other airports and many passengers standed! Are we still going ahead with a 'dead' airport? Whose brilliant idea is this? Let us have the feasibility study report? Is this the BN election gimmick? I thought when the PR govt. wanted to bring in Firefly it was a sheer waste of time and money, subsidizing that airline to fly into Ipoh and all!, but to extend the runway is more stupid!
Wah! Gone lah Ipoh and Perak when we have such people in power!

