The Federal government, through capital investment, has played a crucial role in the rapid improvement of power supply infrastructure in Sabah.
Power demand in Sabah was forecast to increase by 8 per cent between 2010 and 2015.
A Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) statement said today that over the past 10 years, the government had channeled RM1.849 billion to improve power supply infrastructure throughout Sabah.
It said RM727.87 million was allocated to the state under the Eight Malaysia Plan between 2000 and 2005 and RM800.2 million under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
“In addition, the government, through the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, has allocated RM186.9 million to SESB under the Economic Stimulus Package,” the statement added.
The government has also provided RM2.06 billion as fuel subsidy to SESB power stations between 2004 and 2010.
SESB also said 382 projects were being extensively carried out throughout Sabah now and was expected to be fully completed by end-2012.
“The completion of this project (infrastructure improvement) will also have a positive impact on the power supply situation in Sabah and result in less power interruption to customers.
“With greater improvements in technology and in-depth technical know-how by SESB, the company is confident power supply to customers in Sabah will improve tremendously over the coming years,” SESB said.
With the determination to perform beyond the expectation of many, SESB has implemented many strategic projects that saw the System Average Interruption Duration Index or SAIDI pick up considerably in Sabah to 687 minutes per
customer in 2010 from 2,867 minutes per customer in 2009.
As of June 6, 2011, the index for Sabah is 216.9 minutes per customer, the statement added.
– Bernama