KUCHING: Pelagus assemblyman Wilson Nyabong Ijang has questioned the line of reasoning put forward by Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh who is not in favour of the Baleh hydroelectric project (HEP).
He stressed that among the goals of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government are to create renewable energy and a friendlier living environment for future generations.
“Electricity undoubtedly is a necessity for domestic and industrial consumers. The question is: how do we generate power to meet the demand?” he said on Thursday (Sept 2).
He pointed out that there are basically two most common methods of producing electricity, one by burning fossil fuel such as coal and petroleum which are finite resources.
The second method is hydropower which is renewable energy and environmentally friendly.
“Bakun HEP, for example, produces 2400MW of electricity. According to experts, to produce 1MWH of electricity, 850g of coal is needed. Thus to produce 2400MW as what Bakun HEP is capable of producing, we would need 17.87 trillion metric tonnes of coal per year (2400 x 0.85 tonne x 24hours x 365 days),” he said.
To him, green, renewable and sustainable energy favoured by the GPS government is the way to go.
Nyabong was responding to Wong’s Sept 1 statement dismissing a call by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing not to renew the licences of irresponsible timber concessionaires blamed for a recent logjam in Baleh.
The logjam, said Wong, was due to salvage logging carried out within the Baleh HEP Dam project site.
“It is therefore elementary to conclude that the dam project led to the production of wood debris that caused the logjam,” said Wong.
