Yong urges Madius to name those requesting for coal-fired power plant

United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Uipko) president Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau should reveal the identity of the person or persons who he claimed had met him to ask for the building of a coal-fired power plant in Sandakan, said Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

He said the best opportunity for Madius to justify a coal-fired power plant in Sandakan is at the Upko ceramah to be held in Sandakan today (Wednesday).

“We shall see if the people of Sandakan support a coalfired power plant to be built in Sandakan,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Yong said that at the Sabah Legislative Assembly last month, Madius had claimed that “the same people who had protested against the coal-fired power plant proposal in the past have now appealed to him to build a coal plant”.

He said the Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Industrial Development was justifying the need for a coalfired power plant which produces cheaper energy.

“I hereby challenge Datuk Madius to reveal the names of the person(s) whom he claimed to have done a U-turn and now supports the coal-fired power plant,” said Yong, who is a former chief minister.

According to him, the then federal government and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) had first proposed in 2007 to build a coalfired power plant in Sabah. But this coal plant proposal failed the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) in March 2008.

In view of objections from the then Sabah government, the federal government was forced to cancel the entire coal plant proposal in 2011, he said.

As a result, Sabah is now benefiting from our own natural gas energy generation which is cleaner and cheaper than coal, he said.