KUALA LUMPUR: The government is still in talks with the Chinese government to demand excess payment for the Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP) project, according to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (pix).
He told the Dewan Rakyat today that negotiating teams headed by the Attorney General’s Chambers and relevant ministries were given the mandate to negotiate the terms, compensation and conditions of cancellation of contracts and loans based on the principle of payment on the cost of completed work.
“As the negotiation session is still ongoing, the amount of compensation and any payments made has yet to be finalized. Once it is finalized, the Attorney-General’s Chambers will recommend the best way to claim the excess payment,“ he said.
Lim was replying to a question from Chan Foong Hin (PH-Kota Kinabalu) about the government’s efforts to reclaim the RM3.54 billion payments made by the previous government for TSGP and the alternative plans by the government to generate power in the East Coast of Sabah.
He said the government was aware of the imbalance in demand and supply of electricity in West Coast and East Coast of Sabah.
“To address the issue, the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change and the Sabah State Government is in the process of finalizing the power generation plans for the east coast of Sabah,” he said.
The Multi-Product Pipeline (MPP) project and TSGP were approved by the previous Barisan Nasional government on July 27, 2016.
The projects were awarded to China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau (CPPB) on Nov 1, 2016, to construct 600 km of petroleum pipeline along the west coast of the Peninsular Malaysia and 662 km of gas pipelines in Sabah.
Suria Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd (SSER), a subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance, has paid RM8.3 billion or 88% of the RM9.4 billion construction cost, despite unaudited work progress estimated at 13%. - Bernama
