Shafie
KOTA KINABALU: The State Government will not consider or approve any mining activity at Maliau Basin, a world heritage site, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie Apdal.
Any request involving mining in Sabah which is near the Maliau Basin area will not be approved, Shafie emphasised, during a question-and-answer session at the State Assembly sitting yesterday.
“Even if there was demand for a coal industry in Sabah, there are already coal industries in Singapore, Indonesia and even in West Malaysia.
“If we were to use coal as an alternative source of energy, it would be even cheaper to import from Kalimantan.
“But that is not a step that we will take. We will look at how the State Government can generate power using other sources, such as dams,” he said.
Although the State government has jurisdiction in forestry and land, which enables the government to act, Shafie said the government also realises that some decisions were made by the previous government, which should not have been done.
“When an area has been gazetted by the State Government, particularly a first-class reserve and especially a water catchment area, it should not be given to a private party.
“That is why the State Government now has to review previous approvals and agreements made, so that we can rectify this issue.
“We know that we cannot simply cancel what had been approved previously, because some agreements were made long-term, spanning 35 or 50 years.
“What we will do now is review what has been done so far to ensure conditions of the agreement are fulfilled. If not, we can take action,” he added.
Shafie added that government-linked companies and the like can work with the private sector, but that full ownership must be under the government.
The State government must administer any deals involving gazetted areas, to return benefits to the people, he said.Ok