CM urged to look into needs of industrial, commercial sectors

TAWAU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Central Youth Movement assistant chief publicity officer Lim Ting Khai has urged Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal to look into the predicaments and needs of the industrial and commercial sectors pertaining to the exemption of water bills and discount on electricity bills during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the Sabah Water Department had offered domestic users a three-month exemption on water bills, while the industrial and commercial sectors, including light industries and services sector, had to pay their bills in full.

“Many consumers in the industrial and commercial categories have to pay their water bills even though their operations have been temporarily suspended for three months due to the Movement Control Order (MCO),” he said.

Lim said water users in the industrial and commercial sectors are charged RM1.06 per cubic metre and RM2 per cubic metre if usage has exceeded 700 cubic metres.

He said the minimum charges for commercial and industrial categories were RM22.50 and RM70 respectively, which the operators had to pay even they did not use water.

Meanwhile, he said domestic users in Sabah enjoyed 28 percent discount off their electricity bills, whereas hotels, tourism bodies, local airlines' offices, shopping malls, conference centres and theme parks received 15 percent discount.

However, Lim pointed out that commercial users were only given two percent discount off their electricity bills.

“This is grossly unfair to many of the light industries, small businesses and services sector that are struggling to stay afloat, especially amid the impending severe economic downturn.”

Hence, he urged the Chief Minister to review the exemption on water bills and discount on electricity bills to industrial and commercial users in order to assist them, particularly the smaller operators, to overcome the economic hibernation period.