AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING (Date of Completion)

Mr David Marshall asked the Deputy Prime Minister when it is expected that the permanent Terminal Building at Singapore Airport will be completed, and what interim provisions are being made for the comfort of transit passengers.

Dr Toh Chin Chye: Mr Speaker, The permanent Terminal Building at the Singapore Airport will be completed m the early part of 1964.

Transit passengers at the Singapore Airport are being accommodated in the Airport Restaurant and the Reception Room. The present Terminal Building is a temporary one built in 1955 when the Member for Anson was Chief Minister. No transit lounge was provided for by the then Government in this building and therefore transit passengers have hitherto been accommodated in the Airport Restaurant. Various proposals to put up a temporary transit lounge have been studied by a Committee consisting of Airport officials and members representing the airline operators, but these proposals were considered either not feasible or uneconomic in view of the fact that a concrete plan to build a new Terminal Building is in hand.

Mr David Marshall: I see, Mr Speaker, that I am responsible for this terminal building. But I would inquire whether it is not possible to improve the accommodation because the Deputy Prime Minister must be aware that the existing accommodation is acutely uncomfortable and in some cases shabby in the extreme. There must be some way of improving it without too great a cost during the intervening 18 months.

Dr Toh Chin Chye: Sir, I have already given the answer to that question. I said that a Committee had looked into the matter in detail and it had come to the conclusion that it, is not worthwhile proceeding with.