Masidi: It Would Be Sabahans Who Would Suffer if Environment Polluted
Any Plan to Build Coal Power Plant Should First Consult State Government
[Translated from Chinese from the Merdeka Daily News, 1 April 2009, front page.]
(Kota Kinabalu, March 31, 2009) Sabah State Tourism, Environment and Culture Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun says, the Sabah State Government has a very stringent policy on environment. Any suggestion to implement coal power plant in the State, including before the relevant authority makes any decision to evaluate the Environmental Impact Assessment Report, should notify and consult the State Government first.
He made this response when interviewed in Kota Kinabalu with regard to the confirmation made yesterday by the Director General for Sabah Federal Department of Environment, Haji Abdul Razak bin Abdul Manap, that the said Department has already made a decision on whether to approve the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for the construction of a coal power plant and extension plan by the Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd, and that the final decision shall be made by the State Government.
Masidi at the outset indicated that he was not personally aware of Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd’s plan to construct a coal power plant, because nobody has notified or reported to him. “I myself only came to know about this matter 3 days ago.”
He said, the State Government recognizes and accept in principle the work carried out by the Department of Environment and the reliability of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report, but due to the fact that it concerns State policies, he was of the view that the relevant authority should consult and notify the State Government before making any final decision.
“I’ve contacted Haji Abdul Razak, he said his Department shall convey the said decision to the State Government. Under normal circumstances, they should submit the relevant suggestions in the form of a Cabinet Report Paper, to let the State Cabinet discuss further.”
He said, even though he did not know what was the ‘decision already made’ by that Department, he believes that the State Government shall further discuss and consider the matter. “Haji Abdul Razak informed Sabah Forest Industries Sdn Bhd only about the need to renew license, so this [using coal in its operation] is not something that only happened recently.”
It has been learned that the Company has used coal in its operation since 2007, and that the proposed 40MV coal power plant will not be using coal entirely.
Masidi explained, the State Government absolutely does not intend to make it difficult for any party who intends to carry out energy plan in the State, but everybody should understand that the State has its own policies on environmental and protection issues, even the Federal authorities should understand this.
“The State Government has always been serious on environmental and protection works, the ‘60 Earth Hour’ Campaign was only launched a few days ago, we cannot make self-contradictory decisions.”
He said, even though the Company’s proposed coal power plant is not on a big scale, but the important point is that it involves the relevant State policies. “The most important thing is that we do not wish to make any decision which we would regret in future but would be too late.”
The State Government is not interfering with the work of the Federal Department of Environment, but if pollution problems occur in the future, the people who will suffer are the people of Sabah, not those living in Kuala Lumpur,” said Masidi.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Related posts:
- EIA – Is it Dependable? Looks like the stubborn SESB has decided to force the...
- Bid to silence Sabah’s anti-coal campaign – MalaysiaKini.com Bid to silence Sabah’s anti-coal campaign http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/118711 Joe Fernandez Dec...
- Groups express concern over report on coal-fired plant By RUBEN SARIO KOTA KINABALU: An initial environmental report...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
.gif)
Leave a Reply