‘Don’t fall for Najib’s spin’

Najib Tun Razak's boast of benefits from the RM4.5 billion oil and gas spinoff project in Siptang, Sabah, is meaningless considering its many failed past promises.

KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak may have inadvertently admitted, during a visit last week, that Sabah had never benefitted from oil and gas deal that it had signed with the federal government almost 40 years ago.

Najib’s statement that a RM4.5 billion oil and gas spinoff project in Sipitang is the start of Sabahans reaping benefits from the industry is too little too late in coming and should be taken with a pinch of salt, said the opposition DAP.

The party described Najib’s boast during the ground breaking ceremony of the RM4.5 billion Sabah Ammonia Urea (SAMUR) project last week, as a mere publicity stunt ahead of the impending general election, which many believe he is being forced to call early to prevent the opposition gaining strength.

Sabah DAP secretary Dr Edwin Bosi said Najib was being hasty in proclaiming the project as a realization of the economic spill from the oil and gas industry.

“Talking about the benefits before the project is up and running is meaningless. These ground breaking ceremonies are simply a publicity stunt, a political mileage for the government to say the least,” he said.

He cited the RM3.8 billion Kimanis Oil and Gas Terminal for example, which the Sabah Oil and Gas Contractors Association (Sogca) complained about as local contractors were not benefiting from the project.

According to Sogca president Iskandar Malik, local contractors have been granted only about RM600 million of the RM4.6 billion project and the rest are in the hands of foreign contractors.

“Even Sogca is unhappy why our gas has to be piped all the way to Bintulu, Sarawak,” said Bosi.

Past disappointments
He also asked what had happened to the estimated RM1.6 billion steel mill project which includes a gas-fired power plant at Kampung Limau-Limauan in Kudat.

It was reported several years ago that an integrated mill, a multinational joint-venture between Nusantara Steel, German companies Ferrostraal AG, Siemens AG and a consortium led by the Danieli Group of Italy, would start operations in 2003.

Under the deal, Nusantara Steel signed an agreement with Petronas in June 2000 for the supply up to 5.66 million cubic meters per day of natural gas to the steel complex for 20 years.

The state Barisan Nasional government agreed to provide RM11 million for acquiring the land for the project.

“The government must explain to the people why the project failed, if the land has been acquired what happen to it now,” he said.

With such failures in the past and the numerous problems facing Sabah contractors in the oil and gas industry, Bosi said the people had every right to be skeptical of any mega project benefiting the state and its people.

“Sabah DAP would like to remind the Prime Minister and Chief Minister not to disappoint the people with the so-called multi-billion ringgit projects,” he added.

Bosi also took a poke at Najib’s failure to address the proposed setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on illegal immigrants in the state and instead focus on a ammonia urea plant.