KUALA LUMPUR – It is time to stop sidelining and marginalising Sabah when it comes to electricity supply, said Tuaran MP Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau.
Claiming that it had happened in the past, Tangau said while Sabah has a pressing need for gas to generate electricity, Petronas as the main gas supplier in the country would rather spend RM2 billion to “take away” Sabah’s gas to Bintulu, Sarawak, for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.
“Isn’t it easier to put a gas pipe from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan? But the power generation in Sabah through gas was totally ignored – until today – as it has been proven that Sabah has been facing electricity generation problems.
“The reserve margin that is too low has caused load shedding (power rationing) and power disruptions to continue,” Tangau said when debating the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill 2023 at the Dewan Rakyat today.
He also noted that the reserve margin for power generation in Sabah is lower than 12% compared to the peninsula at 40%.
Tangau is the honorary president of United Kinabalu Progressive Organisation (Upko) and the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chairman.
List of cancelled electricity supply projects in Sabah
In 2008, SESB conducted research on a coal power plant project in Lahad Datu which would generate 300mW capacity of electricity.
The research was completed and the project was ready to go, but after objections from environmentalists at the time, the project was never implemented.
Tangau who is also former science minister raised this at the Dewan Rakyat today, saying that Sabah had missed the chance to utilise coal to generate electricity when currently, 40% of power in the peninsula and 20% in Sarawak is generated from coal.
He also asked for an update about the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project and the Southern Link project which would connect the power grid between the east and west coast of Sabah.
“What happened to these projects? Why is it still not implemented?” he questioned.
The TSGP project, once a controversial project, was initiated in 2016 under the Barisan Nasional (BN)-led government, and aimed to distribute gas supply through a 662km gas pipeline from Kimanis in the state’s west coast to the east coast districts of Sandakan and Tawau. The project was estimated to cost RM4 billion.
In 2018, the Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led government cancelled the project, saying that there was an issue – the previous BN-led government paid China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau the project costs way ahead of its progress.
In 2021, the PN-BN government announced that it was to continue with TSGP. However, the project is still stalled until today, and there was no update on the matter after the 15th general election.
Meanwhile, Tangau also brought up the Southern Link project which costs roughly RM1.25 billion for the south (Sabah) electricity line to connect the state’s west coast to the east coast by linking the Kalumpang-Mengalong grid.
It was mooted by the then-PH government in July 2018 but has yet to be implemented.
“Sabahans might be proud to be the only region in Malaysia that does not use coal to generate electricity but Sabah is also the only region that is still experiencing power rationing and recorded the highest power disruption average in Malaysia,” he said.
Tangau supported the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill 2023 which was later passed in the Dewan Rakyat. – October 11, 2023