Yeo Bee Yin
KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) has unlocked 40 achievements in its three key sectors, namely energy, science and technology, as well as environment, over the past 18 months.
In a statement to Bernama yesterday, the ministry said all the 40 achievements were reported by its minister Yeo Bee Yin in the MESTECC Report Card 2019.
“The achievements are in line with the goals she set based on her book titled ‘Reimagining Malaysia’ to spur national development, to improve the well-being of the people, and to attain sustainable environment.
“These include efforts to ensure that the electricity supply infrastructure is of good quality, efficient, safe and reliable; to encourage research and development (R&D) in the fields of science, technology and innovation (STI) for commercialisation purposes; and to carry out continuous monitoring activity and enforcement of environmental conservation-related rules and regulations,” it said.
Among MESTECC’s key achievements in the energy sector are in savings of as much as RM11.4 billion in electricity supply costs through the cancellation of four independent power producers (IPP) and two hydropower plant projects that were not required but implemented through direct negotiations by the previous government.
The ministry was also successful in recovering RM250 million in arrears from the IPPs in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah that could be used for R&D, as well as promoting the electricity supply industry.
In addition, the cancellation of 389 non-performing renewable energy projects saw a national cost savings of RM2.16 billion.
Subsequently, the cost of living burden was also reduced for nearly 120,000 poor and hardcore poor families through the RM40 Electricity Bill Rebate Programme, a targeted subsidy scheme.
This assistance saw a six-fold increase in the number of beneficiaries in 2019 compared to only 18,738 household heads who benefitted from the programme previously.
In its focus to achieving a sustainable environment, MESTECC had also succeeded in addressing the issue of illegal plastic waste influx by intensifying its enforcement through the Department of the Environment (DoE) and cooperation with other countries involved.
MESTECC had also taken quite a stern action by shutting down the operations of 170 plastic recycling factories found to have violated the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
The ministry has also launched the Roadmap Towards Zero Single-Use Plastics 2018-2030 in October 2018, encompassing measures to avoid the use of single-use plastics through the 4R methods: Reduction, Reuse, Recycle and Replacement.
In addition, several key initiatives were also taken in addressing pollution issues by implementing seven measures to improve environmental quality control in the Pasir Gudang industrial area in Johor including in handling toxic waste disposal cases in the Kim Kim River in Pasir Gudang.
More information on MESTECC’s successes and achievements are available in the MESTECC Report Card 2019 published on the ministry’s website, www.mestecc.gov.my. — Bernama