Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, in his recent round-up speech on the debate in Parliament on the Fortitude Budget, said that "the Government will guarantee the borrowing by Changi Airport Group to fund the development of Changi East, including Terminal 5".

He also said the "debt repayments will be made during a period when the airport will be generating economic returns" (A principled fiscal strategy that gave S'pore four Budgets, June 6).

This massive airport development project was first announced more than two years ago. Targeted for completion around 2030, the new terminal is expected to almost double the handling capacity of Changi Airport from the current 82 million passengers to about 150 million.

The cost of the entire Changi East project is expected to run into tens of billions of dollars, and will be financed through a joint contribution model comprising the Government, Changi Airport Group and airport users.

The decision to embark on this ambitious project was taken well before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world and severely impacted air travel worldwide. The decision was likely predicated on a set of air travel and tourism growth forecasts and projections that were made more than three years ago, when growth was the norm.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his recent national broadcast, said that "industries that depend on travel, like aviation, hotels and tourism, will take a long time to get back on their feet, and may never fully recover" (S'poreans must learn to live with virus for long haul: PM Lee, June 8).

The direct impact on the demand for airport services for years to come seems clear. Changi East, including T5, might be badly underutilised. Perhaps in the medium term, and possibly longer term, the four existing terminals might already be adequate to serve the requirements of our air-travel hub.

If T5 eventually becomes fully operational on the scale previously planned, I fear that Changi Airport Group will not be able to meet its debt repayment obligations and the Government will be forced to rescue the group using public funds.

The authorities should urgently revisit the bases and projections that were taken to launch Changi East and T5, and either scale down the project substantially, or abort the development altogether.

Young Pak Nang