Musa Aman and Son Behind the Timber Boom in Tawau?

Wednesday 2 April 2014


Geothermal power production company and state government need to answer some questions about how logs are suddenly coming on the market

TAWAU: A few years ago if you said there would be lorries loaded with round logs regularly heading towards a timber complex here, we’d have said dream on. These days its become a fairly common sight in this former timber town on the east coast of Sabah.

The sudden ‘timber boom’ has occurred because a forested area in Apas Kiri earmarked for the country’s first geothermal power plant is being swiftly cleared of all trees by the company that has won the contract to build the renewable energy plant.

 
After using fancy charts and slides and technical jargon to explain the project, Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd, began a large scale tree felling operation on the site. This started back in 2012. When completed, the electricity plant will be the first of its kind in the country.

While all this is going on, the question of who owns the millions of ringgit worth of trees now being felled on the land has not been answered satisfactorily. As far as anyone outside a closed group of people in the company and maybe some government servants doing the bidding of the state government, no one knows for sure.

Even Kalabakan MP, Abdul Ghapur Salleh, brought up the issue earlier this year when he questioned the sudden abundance of logs surfacing when it was earlier stated by the government that there was no more logging site in Tawau. Ghapur went so far as to call for an investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. The request came to nothing.


“As far as I know, there is only one site clearing which harvested a number of logs in the Tawau area. This is geothermal power plant project site located in Apas Kiri,” Chan Foong Hin, the Sri Tanjong Assemblyman.

But even he doesn’t know if the logs belong to the state or is the property of the company building the geothermal plant. He said his request for clarification on number of trees felled, logs extracted and royalty paid has not been answered. “Is the profit generated from the logging activity taxable? I don’t know.”

He has submitted a series of questions on the issue for the state government to answer at the coming State Assembly sitting this month. The DAP Sabah vice-chairman said he had received numerous queries and complaints from residents about overloaded logging trucks moving along Jalan Apas to Tanjung Batu.


Who owns the timber? According to a written answer obtained by Chan in State Assembly last November, the site of geothermal power plant was leased to TGE by Sabah Parks on 17 August 2012 for 50 years. TGE also obtained occupation permit from the Sabah Forestry Department for 50 years on 19 November 2012.

Going by this, the land and the trees on the said land is owned by the state government and therefore the people of Sabah are the beneficiaries. So even if TGE needs to clear the site to develop the geothermal power plant there, they do not own the timber and they cannot sell the log to generate income for the company.

But Chan has a secondary question since such things seem to happen in Sabah from time to time. He wants to know how many trees have been felled and how much royalty was paid to the government?

According to the written answer by Chief Minister Musa Aman in State Assembly last November also, TGE was given incentives approved by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) on 13 September 2013.

But Chan argues that, even if TGE is given incentives to develop renewable energy, any income generated from logging through site clearing should not be considered as part of the package. “Is the profit generated by the logging activity there tax exempted?” Chan asked.

He said whoever was undertaking the logging seemed to have a freehand given that even complaints by the Kalabakan MP of overloaded logging trucks plying the roads seemed to have no effect.

The Sabah Chief Minister in his written reply to Chan’s question about why TGE had been granted the contract when it has no experience in this industry said the technology and expertise needed could be outsourced.”

“Does it mean that anybody can form a company to lobby for Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement (REPPA) and then outsource to others? It is ridiculous to encourage such a Ali Baba culture in official statement made by government,” said Chan.

“I have nothing against the development of clean energy in Tawau. But the issue now is about transparency and accountability. People has a lot of questions … even the MP of Kalabakan share their concerns. The state government should come forward to clear the air. ” Chan said.

TGE, which will manage the first geothermal power plant in the country just signed an MoU with Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Atlas Copco in the presence of Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Maximus Ongkili last weekend. – Borneo Insider

Who’s behind logging in forest reserve?


Is Chief Minister Musa Aman’s son the “mystery hand” behind the Geothermal Power Plant project and the ongoing logging at Mt Andrassy, a Class 1 Virgin Forest Reserve here?

There is scarce information regarding the project and its owners Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd but what was visible to Sabah DAP leaders during a site visit to a section of Mt Andrassy recently was the number of logs felled and lorries waiting to transport them.

Describing the logging as “highly irregular”, party leaders, Kota Kinabalu MP Jimmy Wong and Sri Tanjung assemblyman Chan Fong Hing demanded that the state government reveal the identities of the main shareholders of Tawau Green Energy Sdn Bhd.

Wong, who is state DAP chief, said they had done some background checks on the project concessionaires and knew it had signed a 21-year Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement (REPPA) with Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) in November 2011.

“We found out that the main shareholder of the company holding two million share units is one Yamani Hafez bin Musa.

“Is this just a mere coincidence?” he asked, referring to Sipitang Umno division youth chief who is Musa’s son. We call on the state government, in particular the Chief Minister to clarify the matter.”

Both Wong and Chan told reporters here yesterday that the party was aware of a sizeable number of logs being felled and extracted from the project site.

“When we went into the project site at Apas kiri, we saw heavily laden logging trucks at the 18km-long new road that was being constructed towards the project site. We drove the whole way to the project site and saw even more logs waiting to be picked up,” said Chan.

The Forestry Department has said all logging in the area is in accordance with the laws as licenses have been issued and procedures complied with. The department also told party representatives who had sought clarification that the contractor constructing the power plant had been given permission to clear the area and chop down the trees. - Free Malaysia Today

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