KOTA KINABALU (June 8): Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor today said that the state is targeting to get RM1 billion in local contract awards or 20 per cent of the total oil and gas contracts awarded this year.
“To date, local contract awards have reached RM564 million, equivalent to 11
Brief history of Sabah’s energy woes. Sabah owned SESB which, to our shame, was badly managed. Power failures, brown outs and shutdowns were a daily affair, Sandakan and Tawau suffered worst. Power theft was widespread too. These have created chaos and stunted Sabah’s economic development. Businesses, especially SMEs, suffered massively. Impossible for industries. Apart from mismanagement, SESB suffered from price increases in diesel which was then its main fuel by Petronas. To stamp the financial bleedings, Sabah sold SESB to TNB. Blame who? Sabahan political leaders for having allowed bad management and failure to secure an equitable supply of diesel at an affordable price from Petronas. After all, the petroleum was pumped from our territory. It is ours in the first place. Such was the sorry tales of Sabah’s weak economic leadership.
Admittedly, SESB under TNB has improved. However, its performance has not been entirely satisfactory, its failure to produce suffic
Sabah OGSE companies should explore initiatives from the National Oil & Gas, Services and Equipment Industry Blueprint (OGSE Blueprint) 2021-2030 to move up the value chain, said Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun
No greater love than “Love Sabah” is surely and steadily growing. If only this embryonic love for our Sabah can mature more, especially among politicians, then our future will be in good hands. Hajiji’s “Sabah First” or “Sabahans First Policy” has begun to produce positive impacts. Here are some reasons and examples for this rising tide of “Love Sabah”:
[a] Hajiji has succeeded to collect sales tax on petroleum products. This has been a thorny issue for a long time. Sarawak has been collecting this sale tax for many years but Petronas has refused Sabah.
Their reason is that sales tax is only collectable at point of sales. In the first place, Petronas has simply siphoned our oil and gas to other states, namely Sarawak, Malacca and Johore and adding insult to injury, the receiving States have been collecting sales tax on our oil and gas! What justice for Sabah? It is to Hajiji’s credit that he has since, on assumin
CM DATUK Seri Hajiji and the presidents of component parties launched the GRS coalition on 28th May 2022. In his speech, Hajiji touched on the rationale and direction of the newly registered coalition at great length. Most impressive goals! Never in Sabah’s history has a political party or coalition having devoted such focus to give a comprehensive vision for Sabah