Speca puts hope on Ibrahim Baki to increase involvement

KUCHING: Sarawak Petroleum Contractors Association (Speca) hopes the appointment of Datuk Ibrahim Baki to the board of national oil company Petronas will result in local contractors being more involved in the oil and gas sector.

Speca president Datuk Rahman Lariwoo said Ibrahim is no stranger to the state’s political and business scene, and that the latter is able to grasp the aspirations of Sarawakians.

“With his vast experience, he should be able to understand the expectations of Sarawakians and carry out the responsibility entrusted to him.

“We, Speca, hope he can look at how to elevate the involvement of Sarawak contractors in the local oil and gas sector,” Rahman said in a statement Sunday, adding Speca also supports the state government’s decision to nominate Ibrahim as a Petronas board member.

Rahman said Speca in its previous media statement had pointed out that small and medium-sized oil and gas companies in Sarawak should be allowed to form a consortium to enable them to participate in and be awarded with projects.

According to him, each consortium will be led by experienced and successful contractors.

He said the mechanism of award should be friendlier such as direct negotiation based on each consortium’s area of expertise, while the selection must not compromise on the quality and safety of the project.

It should cover all available projects proposed for Sarawak and the proposal should not be confined to new projects only, he added.

“In this approach, the association believes that every contractor in the state will have at least one project, if not more, and thus elevating the participation to 100 per cent in the next five years.”

At present, Rahman said there were more than 400 Sarawak contractors registered with Petronas but that only around 100 of them were active.

“With a more friendly approach on awarding of projects, it will attract more participation. Datuk Ibrahim possesses good business acumen to know what is best for Sarawak contractors,” he said, adding Speca is planning on presenting its proposal to Ibrahim.

Petronas announced on its website last Wednesday that Ibrahim, along with former Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zaharah Ibrahim and Datuk Razali Mohd Yusof, had been appointed as board members effective Aug 17.

With his vast experience, he should be able to understand the expectations of Sarawakians and carry out the responsibility entrusted to him.

Datuk Rahman Lariwoo