Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan is confident the electricity supply problem in Sabah will be considerably reduced.

He said this was based on the commitment by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) to address the problem.

"Although currently we are facing various challenges, I believe the problem will be addressed soon," he said in his speech at the opening of the SESB Open Day in Kota Kinabalu today.

Pairin, who is also state infrastructure development minister, said the government's target to attain the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) of 700 minutes/consumer annually at end the year could also be achieved.

This, he said, would be through the implementation of development projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan and a special project under the SAIDI initiative.

Pairin said SESB, together with the Independent Power Producers, were working hard to meet the 760MW demand for electricity supply in Sabah.

He attributed the increase in the demand for electricity supply in Sabah to the drastic increase in subscribers, from about 290,000 in 1998 to 428,717 in May this year.

This increase also proved that Sabah was developing rapidly, he added.

Pairin also welcomed measures by SESB to install mobile generator sets in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau and Lahad Datu to increase power supply in Sabah.

- Bernama