KOTA KINABALU: No decision has been made on relocating the controversial RM1bil coal-fired plant from the east coast Sandakan district. Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the matter was still being studied by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).

“Let’s wait for them to complete their assessment on the matter first,” he told reporters Tuesday after launching a seminar on landslides and slope safety here.

Last week state Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan said that the coal-fired power plant project that was moved from Silam in Lahad Datu district to Seguntor in Sandakan would not proceed there as well.

Tan said the state government was listening to the protests of the people in Sandakan, particularly on concerns over the proposed plant being too close to conservation areas like the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.

He said the plan to put up the plant in Seguntor or the Sandakan Palm Oil Industrial Cluster was just a possibility that was being studied by project developers Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Tenaga Nasional Berhad.

Tan said Sandakan leaders including Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman have been receiving feedback from the people whose main concerns were the effects of a coal plant on various conservation areas.

He said there was no need for the Government to formally scrap it as the project initiators were studying suitable alternative locations for the plant after the state government scrapped SESB’s plan to set it up in Silam two years ago on environmental grounds.

Published: Tuesday June 30, 2009 MYT 2:15:00 PM

By RUBEN SARIO