KOTA KINABALU: A Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader on Monday (Aug 7) is urging Sabah to use green energy sources instead of coal to generate electricity.
LDP vice-president Sim Fui said this in response to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) chairman Datuk Seri Dr Wilfred Madius Tangau’s statement last week that coal is the cheapest option for power generation.
Sim said while Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak uses coal for energy, he said such facilities were set up over 10 years ago and questioned if it was prudent to choose this particular method of electricity generation at this day and age.
"China, which once was mainly generating power from coal, is now pursuing green energy sources such as solar, mini hydro, biogas, waste to energy or even wind energy.
"It is shocking that the new SESB chairman said there were 'too many people playing romance with the environment' when Sabah should remain green and preserve its strong green branding around the world," he said in a statement on Monday (Aug 7).
"Using coal means Sabah has to either barge the coal from Indonesia through the sensitive marine gems of Tun Sakaran Marine National Park (and the Sipadan and Mabul Islands), or Sabah mines its own coal. Either option could be environmentally devastating for beautiful and green Sabah.
"This is exactly why the previous proposal of setting up a coal-fired power plant in Sandakan and Lahad Datu were fiercely rejected by Sabahans.
"The mistake cost unnecessary delay in power generation and losses to SESB," said Sim, who is also LDP's public complaints bureau chief.
He said Sabah must avoid past mistakes and embrace the global trend for ESG (environmental, social and governance) compliance and the Net Carbon Zero aspiration by pursuing only green energy sources and not dirty energy sources such as coal and diesel.
