‘Sack the RM4 million a year CEO’

Frequent power outages has angered Sarawakians who want the highly paid expartriate team in Sarawak Electricty Supply Corporation out.

KUCHING: The frequent power outages in the state do not justify the millions of ringgit paid to Norwegian Chief Executive Officer Torstein Dale Sjotveit and 16 other expatriates employed by the Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (SESCO).

Sarawak DAP wants the state government to sack the team and replace them with local qualified engineers.

State DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen said Public Utilities Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hasan should sack the foreign team which is costing the state an annual RM20 million in salaries alone.

The salaries, he said, cannot be ‘justified’ because the state was still suffering from frequent power outages.

“Despite incurring such huge amount for the employment of these expatriates, there are now more frequent power outages and thus worse service.

“The expenses incurred do not justify the returns we as Sarawakians get,” he said

Chong was commenting on two power outages that occurred in Kuching and in other parts of Sarawak on Tuesday.

The outages had resulted in colossal losses to business concerns and had severely inconvenienced the people.

SESCO explained that the six-hour power failures was due to the breakdown of its power plants at Bakun, Sejingkat and Mukah. And this had invariably affected the whole state.

Government must explain

In lodging a formal complaint to Awang Tengah, who is also the Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management, Chong demanded that the minister sacks the Norwegian and 16 other expatriate engineers.

“We want the employment of the Norwegian CEO and the 16 expatriates which have cost SESCO an annual RM20 million salary expenses be terminated and that qualified Sarawakian engineers be employed in their places.

“SESCO should also compensate for the damage of the people’s electrical appliances which were caused by the outages,” he said.

He also demanded that Awang Tengah explain to Sarawakians the issue behind the frequent power outages during the last three months.

He also wants a detailed disclosure of the amount of electricity supplied to the smelting plants.

“How could there be such coincidence of three power plants breaking down at the same time?

“Power plants ought to be regularly maintained so as to prevent it from breaking down.

“Previously, before this year, we did not suffer such ‘coincidental’ breakdowns of plants at the same time,” said Chong, who is also Kota Sentosa state assemblyman.

“Power outages did not only occur yesterday. In the last three months there have been very frequent power outages, for example there were more than five outages in and around Jalan Song Thian Cheok, three power outages in the Sungai Maong area, three power outages in Kuching Central district area, several times in Hui Sing area,

“In Stampin Tengah area, last week alone there have been four power outages, each lasting approximately three hours.

“Obviously, there is something wrong with the management of SESCO,” he said.

Unfair policy

He suggested that perhaps SESCO’s power plants were overloaded, given the setting up of the aluminium smelting plants which consumes hundreds of megawatts of electricity or that regular maintenance was seriously lacking.

“SESCO employs a Norwegian CEO, paying him an annual salary of RM4 million and bonus of RM1.5 million for the year 2010.

“On the contrary, instead of providing better services, since the employment of the Norwegian, SESCO has gone on rampage to change the electricity metres of domestic households and thereafter charge these households exorbitant charges alleging that they were ‘stealing’ electricity,” he said.

The DAP leader accused SESCO of favouring foreigners over and at the expense of local Sarawakians.

“Foreign companies were offered cheap electricity while the locals are paying expensive electricity tariff.

“Foreign companies owing millions (of ringgit) in arrears in electricity charges were not being pursued while locals owing few hundreds or thousands were sued in Court and or threatened to have their electricity supply disconnected.

“Is such recent policy of SESCO the doing of the Norwegian CEO or that of the Sarawak Barisan Nasional government?” asked Chong, who is also the Bandar Kuching MP.