Max’s attack against PH baseless — MP
SANDAKAN: Sabah Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary Chan Foong Hin has a sarcastic reply to Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Dr Maximus Ongkili for claiming that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government had done ‘literally nothing’ for Sabah energy needs.
“Ah yes, we all know you did a lot for Sabah energy needs. You were the federal minister in charge of energy under Najib Razak between 16 May 2013 to 10 May 2018 after all.
“We also know that during your tenure, you were the most successful energy minister that history has ever seen and that you have managed many achievements and accomplishments, including the Trans Sabah Gas Pipeline Project (TSGP) fiasco, Tawau Green Energy scandal, and the solar power project scandals involving Najib and Rosmah, which all took place during your tenure,” said Chan, who is also the member of parliament for Kota Kinabalu.
“Dr Max must have been really, really proud of these feathers on his cap. Why did Dr Max not boast and claim credit for all his above achievements as energy minister? Come and share your experience with the rakyat of Sandakan how you approved all these scandalous projects during your ceramahlah,” Chan sarcastically remarked.
He also criticized PBS for being politically bankrupt with no substantive issues to raise, and even had to resort to dirty tactics of making unsubstantiated claims, including claiming that PH did nothing for Sabah’s energy needs.
Chan noted that PH has decisively terminated the Trans Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP) Project which involved building a 662km gas pipeline from Kimanis Gas Terminal to Sandakan and Tawau, costing about RM4.06 billion in total.
“A ridiculously massive amount of RM3.5 billion was already paid out during Dr Max’s tenure as minister, but the actual work has not been completed. In comparison, Sabah’s budget for the whole year of 2019 is only RM4.16 billion,” said Chan.
“Next, the PH government has also put an end to the 37MW geothermal plant project in Tawau, awarded to Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd on 2 July 2015 during Dr Max’s tenure as minister. The decision was made after no major development progress has been seen at the project site, which was supposed to be completed and commenced operations by end2017.”
Tawau Green Energy was previously controlled by Yamani Hafez Musa, son of former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, via a 52% stake acquired in 2013.
Chan said checks by PH government after it took over power from the previous government in 2018 saw that there was ‘literally’ no project development at all. Drilling activities had stopped in the third quarter of 2016, and there was no staff at the site upon inspection.
“Thirdly, the PH government has given out various small funds for pioneer projects in Sabah to bring electricity to more than 600 villages in isolated areas in Sabah such as Pensiangan, Paitan and various areas in Sipitang that still do not enjoy electricity. Such pioneer projects generate electricity by way of alternative energy source, including using Solar PhotoVoltaic and microhydro. For more information on such projects, you may refer to Senator Adrian Lasimbang who has been actively carrying out such projects. Even in the past week he was carrying out a solar pump project together with NGO Tonibung, at Pulau Berhala.
“Last but not least, the major milestone that the PH government has achieved for Sabah’s energy is that cabinet has approved in principle the returning of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) to the state government. This is something which Dr Max cannot claim credit for as he, despite being Sabahan, had never brought it up in the cabinet during his tenure as energy minister at the federal level,” said Chan.
On the high rate of power interruptions in Sabah, he clarified that Sabah actually has a 32% reserve margin. However, the west coast has the bulk of the reserve and the east coast has negative reserve margin on peak hours.
“Dr Max’s failure during his tenure as energy minister is that he didn’t bother fixing distribution of power. All the blackouts in Sandakan in recent years have nothing to do with not having a power plant in Sandakan, but it was more of a distribution issue.”
The PH government has identified a pressing need for the transfer of power to the east coast by upgrading the transmission line from 180MW to 400MW. Once the transmission line is completed, the plan is that by 2022, they will have to find the best power plant option and tender it out because four years would be needed to build a power plant.
“In fact the upgrading of the transmission line was actually planned by the previous government to the credit of Dr Max, but the implementation is horribly slow. We are now speeding things up,” continued Chan.
“From the above, I can confidently tell you that Dr Max’s attack against PH is baseless and that he is shooting blanks. We have done ‘literally’ everything we could have done to improve things. The situation was horrible previously, and we have managed to turn it around,” he said.