MIRI: Sarawak Energy (SEB) is resuming construction of the long overdue new Miri Town Indoor 33kV substation following the safe clearing yesterday of an illegal blockade.
In a statatement made available here yesterday, SEB said the project is part of its RM1 billion investment in the Miri Power Supply Reinforcement Plan which is expected to meet rapid
expansion and rising electricity demand of Mirians.
The substation is critical for the reinforcement and stabilising of the supply system of Miri’s central district and surrounding areas but was temporarily discontinued when land claimants illegally denied access to the project site.
The ensuing blockade severely delayed the project, compromising the reliability of Miri’s electricity supply and increasing the city’s risk of outages.
Construction came to a standstill in 2017 when the claimants started staking their claims on Canada Hill and obstructed access to the project team.
The blockade was legally cleared yesterday when a legal site entry was made by a team comprising personnel from Sarawak Energy and its operations arm Syarikat Sesco Berhad, State Security and Enforcement Unit, Electrical Inspectorate Unit (EIU) of the Ministry of Utilities, the police, General Operations Force and Land and Survey.
The team met a brief
resistance from a family of six who had parked their car at the main entrance to the
substation.
Police quickly moved in and detained the six who were brought to the police station for questioning, while the legal site entry proceeded as planned.
The entry came on the heel of a court injunction prohibiting any form of obstruction, the statement said. Work resumption was immediate, the statement added.
