Petronas and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) will soon be working on bringing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Bintulu to generate alternative power supply to Sabah's east coast.

Chief Minister Musa Aman said this was to address the critical shortage of power supply in the east coast, especially since the proposed coal-fired power plant project was recently scrapped.

“I know that we have a critical problem in terms of providing stable electricity to the people in the east coast, and not many know that TNB was subsidising RM2 million a day for diesel used in the various Independent Power Plants (IPP) there," he said at Gerakan's Chinese New Year and Chap Goh Mei celebrations in Kota Kinabalu today.

Musa said the venture between Petronas and TNB was a directive by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak during the recent National Economic Action Council (NEAC) meeting, which came prior to his meeting with the premier, together with Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan and State Industrial Development Minister Raymond Tan on the proposed coal-fired power plant.

During that meeting, Musa told Najib of the Sabah people's unhappiness over the project.

Meanwhile, Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon said the party fully supported the decision by the government to scrap the proposed coal-fired power plant project, that was in line with the sustainability concept under the New Economic Model.

"This (decision) reflects the commitment of the chief minister and the BN to continue to make environment as its main agenda. So, this is most welcome," he said.

Koh, who is also minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said the scrapping of the project was one of three reasons for the BN to smile in the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit.

The other two, he said, were the victory in the Batu Sapi parliamentary by-election and Gerakan was receiving many new members.

- Bernama