The escalating cost of the KLIA2 airport is not a leakage and the issue "had never arisen", Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today.

"The issue here is more to planning and implementation, not wastage," he said after PAC probed officials from Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAHB) and Transport Ministry about the cost and delay in the construction of the airport.

He also noted that MAHB was funding KLIA 2 themselves and this does not involve government funding.

He also revealed that KLIA2 would only have a "soft launch" on May 2 by servicing a "lower volume" of passengers.

AirAsia, which is expected to be the major user of KLIA2, will only use the airport at a later date and not on May 2.

Nur Jazlan said that because MAHB had said that most of the construction of KLIA2 was based on demands made by AirAsia, the committee would seek to call Air Asia over the matter as well.

“And maybe we would have reasons to call the contractors and consultants as well,” he said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the explanation from MAHB and the Transport Ministry, Nur Jazlan said most of the information “has to be verified first”.

He said that according to MAHB’s explanation, the location for the KLIA2 construction was changed to accommodate a third runway and higher passenger volume.

“But they have guaranteed that the cost will not exceed RM4 billion,” he said.