Sarawak to get RM450m from Petronas over five years

State will continue to pursue talks with the oil company for royalty to be increased to at least 20%, says chief minister.

KUCHING: Sarawak will receive corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions totalling RM450 million from Petronas from 2015 to 2019.

Chief Minister Adenan Satem said this indicated that Petronas was a responsible and generous corporate citizen.

He was speaking at a function here where Petronas chairman Sidek Hassan announced a contribution of RM90 million to the state this year.

“Petronas has always been a regular contributor to our economy and has even gone to the extent of rescuing the nation at a time of acute economic setback,” he said.

He however added that the state would continue to pursue its negotiations with Petronas for its oil royalty to be increased to at least 20%.

“Its negotiation is essentially between the state and federal governments,” he said.

Adenan said he had talked to Prime Minister Najib Razak and hoped that he would consider this in the state’s favour.

He said besides its many CSR projects and the payment of huge dividends to the state annually, Petronas had recently awarded contracts worth RM2.1 billion to the state.

“We are closely monitoring this through a special committee to see the contracts are really given out,” he added.

Sidek said the RM90 million initial contribution was to enhance education, community development and well-being, as well as environmental conservation.

He said the initiatives included the construction of a new Mara Junior Science College in Bintulu and two hostels to cater for rural students, besides the adoption of five schools in Lundu under the Trust School Programme (Sekolah Amanah) in collaboration with Yayasan Amir.

Sidek said Petronas would also increase its educational scholarships under the Program Sentuhan Ilmu Petronas and Petronas Education Sponsorship Programme for local students.

– BERNAMA