Commercial settlement
KUCHING: A commercial settlement agreement between the Sarawak government and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) will be signed next Monday.
The historic signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur will be witnessed by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, together with the whole negotiation team from both the Sarawak government and Petronas.
“The details of the commercial settlement agreement will be released after it has been formally signed,” State Consultative Committee chairman Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar said today.
He said the Sarawak government will be represented by State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion while Petronas will be represented by its chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Nizam Salleh.
“After extensive discussions between the state government, the Ministry of Finance, and Petronas, the state government and Petronas have agreed to the terms of the commercial settlement,” he said.
He said the State Consultative Committee has been briefed on the agreement by representatives of the Sarawak government involved in negotiations with Petronas.
“The consultative committee at its meeting today was informed of the scope and salient features and terms of the settlement and the significant benefits and advantages which the state would derive from the agreement,” said Mohd Asfia, who is also State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Speaker.
Last May, the federal government, Sarawak government and Petronas agreed that the issues relating to the imposition of State Sales Tax (SST) and the state’s decision to regulate oil mining in Sarawak under state laws should be resolved without going through the legal process.
The legal actions commenced by Petronas and the Sarawak government were withdrawn in August this year.
“The federal government formed a joint committee headed by Senior Minister for Works (Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof) and Minister of Finance (Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz) to facilitate the discussions between the state government and Petronas,” said Asfia.
