PUTRAJAYA – Utility company Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) spent RM12 billion last year on various expenses, with 50% or RM6 billion allocated for Bumiputera companies or vendors.
President and chief executive officer Datuk Megat Jalaluddin Megat Hassan said TNB consistently ensures that its expenditure is allocated to Bumiputera suppliers or vendors as a contribution to the development of that group.
“What TNB has implemented in the context of developing the capital economy and the people’s economy is that we give opportunities to Bumiputera companies to enter the market together with TNB.
“In a different context, TNB appoints Bumiputera companies or certain vendors in the energy business value chain,” he said as part of the discussion panel on Madani 3: Creating Bumiputera Opportunities in the Energy Transition, which was held in conjunction with the Bumiputera Economic Congress (KEB) 2024, here today.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof was the moderator for the session, which was joined by four other panel members besides Megat Jalaluddin.
TNB also introduced a vendor development programme for certain value chains involving the development of Bumiputera companies and allocated almost RM3 billion for that purpose, said Megat Jalaluddin.
“There are two categories of vendors, the first is the supplier of goods or those involved in manufacturing and the other is the service provider to TNB.
“From the point of view of the people’s economy, TNB’s focus is on job opportunities and for now, we have a workforce of 33,000 people with the majority being Bumiputera,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sarawak’s Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Sustainability Datuk Dr Hazland Abang Hipni who is also a panel member at the discussion duly invited all parties especially Bumiputera to venture into the energy transition industry.
He said that in Malaysia, there are at least seven types of energy, namely hydro, solar, hydrogen, biomass, offshore wind, synthetic and oil and gas.
“This new energy sector is open to all, but it would be better if more Bumiputra were to venture into this industry.
“We should prepare ourselves either to be direct players in the industry or to be technical energy workers who will produce new energy such as hydrogen, biomass and so on,” he said. – March 1, 2024