ALOR SETAR, Nov 29 — The joint venture agreement between Kulim International Airport (KXP) Airport City Holdings Sdn Bhd and Tahira Air Sdn Bhd is to establish a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to continue the Kedah Aerotropolis project.

Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the agreement does not mean that Tahira Air would develop KXP alone.

"On the other hand, an SPV company will be established and be responsible for the RM2.5 billion deposit (for the KXP project). I cannot answer more than that because this is a business strategy,” he said at the winding-up session of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) at Wisma Darul Aman here today.

At the DUN session yesterday, Teh Swee Leong (PH-Kota Darul Aman) asked for an explanation as to what prompted the state government to sign an agreement and cooperate with Tahira Air, which allegedly only has a paid-up capital of RM2 million, to pay a deposit of RM2.5 billion or 125 per cent estimated cost of land acquisition for KXP.

"If the public takes a quick look, they say the company has no capacity because the paid-up capital is only RM2 million but the company does not operate in Malaysia, there is an office here but it operates in China. The company handles hundreds of tonnes of cargo a year,” he said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sanusi told the state assembly that the state government is optimistic that the state revenue collection this year can reach the target of RM600 million compared with RM596 million collected in 2022.

He said to date, the state revenue collection has reached RM579.3 million and with the remaining one month, state revenue collection could reach the target. — Bernama