KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's road connectivity and air links must be improved if the state is to tap into the huge economic potentials of Indonesia's impending relocation of its capital from Jakarta to East Kalimantan.
Former Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said like Sabah, East Kalimantan, the second largest province in Kalimantan, was rich in natural resources such as oil, gas, coal and gold.
The Tawau member of parliament said she has been pushing for the expansion of the Tawau Airport and for its status to be upgraded to that of an international airport since 2018.
"In 2019, as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, I led a delegation from the ministry to meet with the relevant federal ministry over the matter. However, our application for an expansion of the Tawau Airport was turned down.
"I urge the federal government to review our application in anticipation of the influx of tourists to Sabah once international borders are reopened in the near future," Liew said in a statement today.
She said the Tawau Airport has the capacity to accommodate the A320 aircraft.
"Air Asia flew the A320 into Tawau before the Covid-19 pandemic. The airport's passenger handling capacity is 1.4 million passengers. However, the airport exceeded this capacity in 2018 when it handled almost 1.7 million passengers, and by 2019, the figure had reached 2.4 million passengers."
Liew, who is also Api Api Assemblyman, said the business community in Tawau was waiting for the temporary suspension of flights from Tawau to Tarakan (in North Kalimantan) to be lifted, with the necessary standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place.
"We hope the revival of this flight service is being considered too in the government's economic recovery plan."
For ease of communication, Liew expressed optimism that the federal government would consider the need to upgrade the 30km road from the Kalabakan district to Samarinda, which is the largest city and the capital of East Kalimantan.
In retrospect, she said that as early as 2003, the Sabah government had made efforts to explore the prospects of economic cooperation between Sabah and East Kalimantan in the areas of forging closer trade ties and promoting investments in agriculture, infrastructure and tourism, among other sectors.
Liew noted that the business fraternity was asking whether the federal government has any plans to re-establish direct air links between Kota Kinabalu and Balikpapan, the gateway to East Kalimantan.
The first direct Kota Kinabalu-Balikpapan flight service was inaugurated by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) in July 2003 to promote cross-border trading between Sabah and East Kalimantan.
In 2012, MASwings started its operations from Kota Kinabalu to Balikpapan but it ended after 2014.