DCM: Carbon deal solely for conserving Sabah’s forest

KOTA KINABALU: The Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) is solely for the purpose of conserving Sabah’s forest, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

He said that the agreement also serves to allow Singaporebased company, Hoch Standard Pte Ltd, to trade the idle carbon and realise the monetary values of carbon through science.

“The company will find bidders who will offer the best price for Sabah,” said Jeffrey who is also Sabah’s Agriculture and Fisheries Minister in a statement on Friday in response to former Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie Apdal.

Shafie had urged the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government to cancel the NCA agreement immediately following an alleged report by an international media Al Jazeera.

Jeffrey said that it would be unthinkable for the GRS government to cancel and stop the NCA as suggested by Shafie.

He also claimed that when Shafie was the chief minister, he also worked on the same carbon deal but was unable to complete it because Parti Warisan lost in the election.

“Warisan even organized a seminar on the subject. It was officiated by Shafie’s deputy chief minister Datuk Seri Panglima Madius Tangau,” he said.

Jeffrey claimed that under the Parti Warisan carbon deal, Shafie had agreed to a 51-49 formula: 51 per cent for the government and 49 per cent for the company.

“The current NCA agreed by the GRS government dwarfed Shafie’s deal because it stipulates that the government will take 70 per cent of the profits while the company, which will be responsible for all aspects of the business including marketing and sales, will only receive 30 per cent,” he said.

“Given the much better deal on the table, it would be unthinkable for the GRS government to cancel and stop the NCA as suggested by Shafie,” he stressed.

Jeffrey also said that he was incorrect when it comes to assessing the capability of companies because the conventional way failed to include the company’s connectivity and network, as well as the company’s shareholders and directors, or the existence of a special purpose company or vehicle.

“GRS is doing everything it can to develop Sabah and we are concentrating on rebuilding our economy at this difficult time.

“Cancelling the agreement will put us back months of hard work and delay our plans for Sabah. We don’t want to manage and run Sabah the way the previous governments did. How can we expect different results if we keep using the same strategy that has been proven to be ineffective?” he said.