KOTA KINABALU: Sabahans are expressing their frustration over another blackout at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), which they view as an unacceptable incident at a crucial facility in the state. While not as severe as a 10-hour outage in February last year, the power disruption on Tuesday night left a negative impression on the people. Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, chairman of the Sabah Association of Travel and Tour Agents (Satta), believes that KKIA, being the second busiest airport in Malaysia, should have measures in place to prevent power disruptions, even if momentary. He suggests that Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) should have generator sets ready to restore electricity within five minutes to ensure the safety of passengers on board aircraft and within the airport. Liaw also urged MAHB to prioritize KKIA and address other technical issues such as escalators, moving walkways, and air-conditioning.
In response to the outage, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), the utility company, stated that the power disruption at the airport was caused by an internal technical problem. However, SESB senior general manager Idris Mohd Noor clarified that there was no issue or fault at the substation supplying power to KKIA on the day of the incident. The KKIA management acknowledged that the problem was due to faulty internal wiring within its own buildings.
Politicians, including Parti Warisan’s Datuk Junz Wong, voiced their criticism of the power outage on social media, and netizens joined in with their own comments. However, SESB Chairman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau urged the public not to solely blame the utility company for every power outage. He emphasized that SESB’s role is to provide electricity supply, and in this case, power was fully restored by around 12:30 am.
David Chan, president of the Sabah West Coast Smart Consumers Association, supported Tangau’s statement and highlighted that not all power failures should be attributed to SESB. He pointed out that while SESB supplies 33KV of power to the airport, it is MAHB’s responsibility to maintain the internal 11KV power supply. Chan called on MAHB to conduct service maintenance on electrical cables, transformer, and switch gear to prevent future power outages. He also suggested the preparation of spare cables to address any future power trips.
Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, who is a committee member of the Sabah Economy Advisory Council, expressed his disappointment with the incident. He emphasized that the airport’s well-being is collectively looked after by industry players, government bodies, and the council. Despite budget constraints, KKIA has been profitable and has performed well. Liaw is calling for a dialogue with the top management of MAHB in Kuala Lumpur to resolve all issues at KKIA.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
