PENANG, Nov 20 (Bernama) -- The Penang government should not question the federal government's intention to extend the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) airbase's runway in Butterworth because the project is vital for the country's defence, State Federal Development director Nik Ali Mat Yunus said.

He said the project, shelved for almost 10 years, would be implemented under the Tenth Malaysia Plan which would begin in 2011.

The state government should instead assist the federal government in relocating the squatters, totalling about 500 families, there so that the project could be implemented according to plan, he told Bernama.

He said there was no excuse for the state government not to know about the project as it had been planned since the Eighth Malaysia Plan.

Recently, state executive councillor Phee Boon Poh claimed that the state government was not informed about the project on the Defence Ministry-owned land even though there was a prior instruction for the squatters to vacate the area.