Kota Kinabalu, May 01, 2009: The government should supply electricity generated from one of two dams in Sarawak to Sabah to address all the power inadequacy in the State once and for all.
Luyang Assemblywoman, Melanie Chia said Sabah, the state with the most power failures in the country, deserved the supply from either the Bakun Dam or Murum Dam instead of Indonesia or Brunei.
"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak should consider electricity from one of the dams be supplied to Sabah because of the perennial power failures all over the State," she said, pointing out the present load shedding by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) has made the matter even worse.
"Sabah deserves such power supply and not Kalimantan or Brunei it is the best measure to overcome power shortages in Sabah."
Najib had announced in Jakarta recently that power from the Bakun Dam will be supplied to Kalimantan as well as West Malaysia via underwater cables.
The Bakun Dam is scheduled to operate in 2011 and the first cable is expected to generate 1, 800 MW of power from Sarawak to Johor by 2013 and the second cable in 2015.
Brunei is expected to receive up to 400 MW of electricity by 2013 by way of a transmission line from the 1, 000 MW Murum Dam in Sarawak.
Chia also said the announcement by SESB senior general manager Peter Lajumin that a coal-fired power plant was the most efficient measure to solve Sabah's long standing power woes was unacceptable.
"The utility company shouldn't hold us to ransom," she said, in a statement here, Thursday.
Towards this end, the SAPP Wanita chief urged the Federal government to consider diverting power surplus from Sarawak to Sabah by transmission line.
"The load shedding is understood to last until June (and it has) drawn a lot of fury from the people and to make matters worse SESB had admitted it has stopped transferring energy to the East Coast via the grid system since several days ago.
"Peter (also) admitted the power failures might last until June and not the end of April as earlier thought and this would make life more harder for the people, in particular, the business sector who have to bear huge losses."
Chia stressed that adequate and consistent power supply was critical to attract investments either foreign or local to boost the State's economy.
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