Sarawak will venture into coal resources in the state, which has reserves estimated at half a billion tonnes, to increase its capability to generate coal-based energy at cheaper prices to accommodate the demand from industrial sectors.     

azlan Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud said in line with that, the state government had established a government-funded company to attract more participation from companies to exploit coal resources to produce power based on partnership.        

Speaking at the Kolej Laila Taib (KLT) convention in Sibu today, he said with the partnership policy, the price of coal-based power generated could be fixed at a minimum rate.     

A total of 316 students who had successfully completed studies in technical fields at KLT received their diplomas from the chief minister.      

"We are lucky as we have good energy sources from hydro and coal to enable us to place a foundation to attract more heavy industries and spin-off industries to develop Sarawak within 20 years," Taib said.     

He said with such huge reserves in the state, Sarawak intends to build more coal-fired power stations to generate cheaper energy.     

Earlier, Taib, who is also State Minister of Resource Planning, said under Score (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy), the state has the potential to produce 20,000 megawatts of energy.    

"The energy resource to be produced will relatively be cheaper compared with other areas in the country which are mostly hydro-based," he explained.     

Meanwhile, Taib said Sarawak needed a lot of skilled workers among local residents in various technical fields to accommodate the demand from industrial sectors which include producing energy resources from coal and hydro.     

- Bernama