Malaysia dumps 1.3-billion-ringgit Sabah coal-fired plant

Najib walks the green talk and wants environment protected;
A gas power station is likely to be built in energy hungry Sandakan

 By Nurhafizah Yusof

A gas-fired power plant

Malaysia has scrapped plans for a controversial 1.3-billion-ringgit ($422m) 300-megawatt coal-fired power station in the east coast of Sabah fearing it could destroy its exotic jungles, wildlife, corals and other marine life, Sabah chief minister Musa Aman announced today. 

The federal and state governments would now look at “alternative energy such as gas to meet Sabah’s electricity needs,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Kota Kinabalu.

“Prime minister Najib Razak understands that we can’t have power supply at the expense of the people’s welfare and environment,” Musa said, adding that Najib has ordered Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the national electricity company, and Petronas, the national oil company, to consider liquefied natural gas (LNG) to generate electricity particularly for people and industries in the east coast which is short of power.

Industry sources said a gas-fired power plant would most likely be sited in energy hungry Sandakan, north of Lahad Datu.

State officials said the decision to dump the coal plant was expected. The Sabah government rejected it in 2008 when Tenaga proposed to site it in Silam on the doorstep of the protected forests of Lahad Datu’s Danum Valley, home of the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros.

Last August the department of environment rejected the company’s environmental impact assessment of its new 69-hectare site in an oil palm estate of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) at Lahad Datu’s Sinakut.

But it was Najib’s visit to Maliau Basin on January 29 that finally killed the coal plant. Accompanied by Musa, Najib was deeply touched by the “lost world” that he saw. He pledged to conserve Maliau Basin, which has buried coal and gold, as a world heritage site.

He is the first Malaysian prime minister to visit the untouched 58,400-hectare basin of virgin forests, about the size of Singapore. He opened the Maliau Basin Studies Centre and launched a 10-year study of the stability of altered forest ecosystems (SAFE), the world’s biggest ecological experiment to find out whether forest ecosystems changed by logging and oil palm cultivation are stable enough to support biodiversity.

Musa said Najib understands that Sabah’s greatest asset is its pristine natural environment which attracts more than two million tourists to exotic wild animals such as the Sumatran rhinoceros, orang utans, proboscis monkeys, wild plants and marine life.

The coal power station on the doorstep of Darvel Bay would have threatened the Coral Triangle there which has about a third of the world’s coral reefs and fish, according to environmentalists.

“While Sabah has to increase power supply for its development, it cannot do it at the risk of endangering our natural environment,” Musa said. “As a responsible government, our priority is to protect the environment for the well-being of the people."

Musa said the Barisan Nasional government under Najib listens to the people. “I know there have been objections to the proposed coal power plant,” he said. “Today is proof that such objections have not fallen on deaf ears. The BN government under Najib has the political will to take the higher road and not bring coal to Sabah"

Source: http://insightsabah.gov.my/article/read/766

Green Sabah Says: It is a good decision from the Sabah State Government to stop the Sabah Coal Fired Plant in order to prevent pollution and damages to the environment. The people of Sabah are grateful for the move and I'm sure there will be better alternatives that we can use to help resolve the electricity shortage woes in the state.