rticle
Managing Mega Projects
- The Experiences Of KLIA
By Tan Sri Dato’ Prof. Ir. Jamilus Hussein and Prof. Dr. Shafie Karimin
Editor’s note: This article was published in The Ingenieur Sept-Nov 2006 issue and is reproduced courtesy of the Board of Engineers, Malaysia.
N
o one, especially in the a viation fraternit y, would have thought and believed that a small group of Malaysian professionals w ould have been able to deliver successfully The KL International Airport
( KLIA) project to the Government of
Malaysia seven years from the word
‘go’.
Touted as one of the most architecturally b eautiful and sophisticated airport i n the world, the profoundness of t his achievement would be more o ve r w h e l mi n g i f th e fo ll ow i n g considerations are taken into account;
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A green field 25 million passenger p e r annum 1 s t P has e air p o r t d eve lopment on a generally peat soil, palm oil plantation and secondary forest site,
S even -year co mp l etio n f ro m initiation to site study and selection,
Masterplan and Architectural design c oncept, engineering design,
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procurement, physical construction, testing and commissioning, and the crucial airport operational readiness and transfer exercise,
Two years into the project, a sudden fundamental shift in the project’s o rganisational and procurement a pproach was made – from a contractor-driven design and build t urnkey to a client-driven total project management approach,
205 different contract packages r unning concurrently on a 7850 acres 1st Phase development site, w ith 130 million metres of earth m oved; two 1.1 km tunnel BHS connecting tunnel; 200,000 square metres of granite flooring; 18,500 k m fibre optic cables laid; 30,000 workers at peak from 50 different countries; to name a few,
5 2 months total construc tion including testing and commissioning a nd operational readiness and t ransfer from the old airport in