Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:45
By Queville To
KOTA KINABALU: The controversial proposal to build Sabah’s first coal-fired power plant has taken a new twist with the arrival of a new pro-coal pressure group, the People’s Assembly Action Committee (PAAC).
The newly formed pro-coal lobby has incurred the wrath of anti coal-fired power plant coalition, Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future), for claiming that the people in the east coast of Sabah support the project.
Green SURF’s Wong Tack, who is also Sabah Environmental Protection Association (Sepa) president, challenged PAAC chairman A Nagaraju to give full details of his claim.
He said Nagaraju should also reveal who exactly are the people that he was referring to and as to who was backing his campaign.
“The people have been saying no to this project since it was proposed in Silam, Lahad Datu and then was forced to shift location to Sandakan due to health and environmental concerns and then driven out of that district also.
“We formed Green SURF last year when Sinakut (in Lahad Datu) was proposed as the third site. We have seen support for the coalition grow from day to day, and even individuals have come in to help us.
“We would like to ask Nagaraju who are the majority of people in Sabah’s east coast who want this project,” Wong said in a statement today.
He also noted that PAAC had just emerged from nowhere, following the rejection of the Detailed Environment Impact Assessment (DEIA) by the Federal Department of Environment.
Wong was responding to a recent media report in which Nagaraju claimed that his group represented those on the east coast of the state who wanted economic development.
Rejected three times
He also questioned PAAC’s tactics to attract people to a pro-coal rally organised by them in Lahad Datu on Aug 21, pointing out that freebies like caps and t-shirts were given out to lure the public.
The Federal Department of Environment (DOE) rejected in mid-August the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) that was submitted by Lahad Datu Energy for the 300 megawatt plant on the shores of the Sulu Sulawesi Marine Eco-region (SSME).
Wong noted that Green SURF had received close to 500 copies of letters from the public, addressed to the DOE questioning the DEIA and calling on the government to scrap the project.
He said that even a poll conducted among members of the Lahad Datu Chinese Chamber of Commerce showed that 86.2 per cent objected to the proposed plant.
The project has now been rejected three times and that any appeal for it to proceed is an insult to the people and the democratic process, he said.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun subscribed to this, he said, when he was quoted as saying he hoped any decision by the project proponent to re-submit a DEIA was “dictated by conscience and public opinion.”
“This whole issue has angered the people of Sabah. We wonder why this Action Committee is so eager to see the continuation of this project when we should be focusing our attention on finding alternatives to solve the power shortage problem,” he said.
Against Copenhagen agreement
Though the plan to build the plant has come up against strong and unrelenting grassroots opposition, the federal government has largely turned a deaf ear to their pleas, arguing that the energy plant is necessary to power Sabah and stop blackouts.
Critics have reportedly said that the coal plant will damage fish stocks with chlorine and thermal discharges, upend the lives of locals dependent on fishing, and devastate eco-tourism in the region.
In addition, the coal plant goes directly against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s agreement at Copenhagen to reduce the country’s carbon emission intensity by 40 percent by 2020.
Despite these concerns, the plant has continued to move ahead possibly due to nepotism, corruption, and kick-backs, according to sources who requested anonymity.
They claim nearly a quarter of the cost of the coal plant or RM400 million has been paid to the contracted company, China National Electric Equipment Company (CNEEC) to build the power plant.
The thinking at the time was that the project would be approved as coal is listed in the country’s five-fuel policy.
When first proposed it was estimated at RM1.1 billion, then RM1.3 billion for the second site, and now RM1.7 billion, a RM400 million jump from one site to the next.
No one knows if the total cost includes the cost of building a transmission line, or the route this transmission line will follow. It also not known which coal mines in Kalimantan will supply the plant or how long they plan to export coal from Indonesia.
TNB’s role
Much of the speculation on the relentless pressure to build the plant centres around national power utility, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and its chairman Leo Moggie, a former federal minister.
TNB has always been pushing for the coal plant and an advertisement was even published in several Sabah newspapers arguing for such a plant.
In addition to this allegation, sources said that the deal for the coal plant is not transparent and may be linked to politically connected individuals.
They said certain well-connected citizens control the import of coal from Kalimantan and and according to published plans, the coal plant will be powered by mines in Indonesian Borneo.
Environmentalists fear that if the plant goes ahead, it will spur coal mining in Sabah’s own backyard, destroying the state’s last pristine eco-systems.
The Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at the University of California Berkeley, which was hired by Green SURF to conduct an energy audit for Sabah found that power from either biomass or hydropower could provide the same power at a competitive price with coal.
Apart from SEPA, the other members of Green SURF are Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), WWF-Malaysia, Malaysian Nature Society (Sabah branch) and Partners of Community Organisations (Pacos).
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