The new Kuching International Airport would be located in Tanjung Embang, Kuching, a place located at the border of Asajaya, Samarahan Division, but still within Kuching Division.
(NOTE: Thanks to new information, Tanjung Embang’s location has been updated to further clarify its location in this article)
The new airport proposal was first made known this year, with details being rather limited at that time.
According to TVS just this week, which quoted Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry & Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, the airport is proposed in Tanjung Embang.
Tanjung Embang is the site announced as the location for the deep sea port which was proposed by the Sarawak government recently.
Abdul Karim was quoted as saying that it is ‘an open secret’ that the new airport would be built in Tanjung Embang, as he adviced land owners to not sell their Asajaya land in haste.
DayakDaily however reported that Abdul Karim also has confirmed that the location of the airport has not been finalized, saying that he believes it would be in the said location based on what he has been told.
Nonetheless, based on a video shown during the Sarawak Gas Roadmap launch recently, the new Kuching International Airport seems to be located off the coast of Sarawak, connected not only to Tanjung Embang, but also to Asajaya beach area. This is based on the video which depicts what seems to be an airport in the video.
If the said airport is the proposed new airport, it will likely be visable from Muara Tebas if materialized.
The video also shows that the airport will not be on Asajaya land, but on a man made island off the coast of Sarawak, integrated with the Tanjung Embang Deep Sea Port which has been announced recently.
The airport seems to have one main runway, with one taxi way, looking similar to the current Kuching International Airport. The terminal building has a unique shape, but no air traffic control tower seems to be visible.
In addition, three man made islands, looking like commercial and residential areas, would also be built between the airport and Sarawak mainland.
More images below show the proposed site and look of the airport.
Where is Tanjung Embang
Tanjung Embang is located partially within Asajaya in the Samarahan Division and Kuching Division. Based on Google Maps, large areas of Tanjung Embang are under Kuching Division, with about 40 percent under Samarahan (Asajaya).
The area is currently isolated and under-developed area at the moment.
Checks show there is no bridge connecting the area to neaby towns and cities.
Checks on Google Maps also show that one can’t estimate the travel time to Tanjung Embang from Kuching, as there is a need to take a boat or ferry to reach the area.
A journey from Kuching to Pangkalan Beliong (which is the jetty to go to Tanjung Embang area) by car would take about an hour through the Samarahan Expressway.
However, according to a news report by Suara Sarawak dated 13 December 2023, there is effort to build bridges, as well as upgrade road networks to connect the area to nearby cities, including Kuching.
Once this is done, the journey to Kuching, via Jalan Bako, and Samarahan, through Asajaya Town, is expected to be much faster.
A massive mega project
With not much details currently made known, and using the information above alone, the new Kuching International Airport is still likely in proposal stages.
However, if the video images were used as scale of the project, it is indeed one of Sarawak’s and probably Malaysia’s largest project ever to be planned and executed if materialized, with the airport alone being very expensive.
This is due to the fact that the proposed plan not only plans to build a new deep sea port along side a new international airport, but also plans to build not less than four massive man-made islands, on top of not less than two bridges to connect such islands and facility.
As a comparison, according to Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Kansai International Airport in Japan, one of the few airports on a man made island, cost US14 billion to construct in 1998.
This price tag went to a whopping US20 billion once a new runway and terminal was added in 2007.
In addition to costing challenges for the new proposed airport in Asajaya, building a new airport off Tanjung Embang would require Tanjung Embang itself to be developed with proper infrastucture and road networks first.
With such scale as well as considering how fast projects usually get approved and completed in Sarawak, it is very unlikely that the project would be concluded within this decade, with belief that the airport would also likely adopt a different name such as the ‘Sarawak International Airport’ instead of ‘Kuching International Airport’ if it materializes.
NOTE: This article has been edited at 11.27AM, 15 December 2024 to correct and add in some recent findings seen in the Sarawak Gas Roadmap launch video.
