WARISAN president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has denied claims that he had a hand on the cancellation of the RM4.06 billion Trans-Sabah Gas Pipeline (TSGP) when he was chief minister in 2018.
He insisted the decision came from Putrajaya and noted that Putrajaya had borrowed money from China.
“It was not us who cancelled. The one who cancelled was the federal government.
"They borrowed money from China, billions, and when I was chief minister, I was told that we had to pay. The money was already spent but the pipeline was not there,” he told a crowd at Kenalanmu Seafood Restaurant in Sandakan last night.
He said it was beyond his authority to overturn a Federal Cabinet decision.
“Why accuse me? How can I stop a Cabinet decision? The money was borrowed by the federal government.
"What is important is to investigate, take action. Who was the government at that time? Who was the economy minister then, from Sabah or from the peninsula? Action must be taken to find out where this money went,” he said.
Blackout exposes Sabah’s east coast dependence
Shafie also argued that Sabah should move away from such projects and develop its own long-term energy resoruces within the state.
“Why can’t we build a dam in Sabah? The Segama river is wide enough, and in Kinabatangan there are also suitable areas.
"If we build it, not even 10 years, not even five years, I am confident we can overcome problems of electricity, water, and even hydrogen," said Shafie.
The TSGP initiated in 2016 during the Barisan Nasional government was aimed to secure gas supply to power plants in Sandakan, Tawau and Kinabatangan.
The project was suspended and subsequently cancelled by the present federal government in February 2025.
Umno points finger back at Shafie
Earlier, Sabah Umno information chief Datuk Suhaimi Nasir blamed Shafie for the east coast blackouts, saying the outages stemmed from his failure to defend the TSGP during his tenure as chief minister.
Suhaimi alleged Shafie “welcomed” the cancellation despite RM3.5 billion – or 88% of the project cost – having already been paid out, with only 13% of physical work completed.
The Libaran MP’s remarks came as a massive blackout on September 13 left six east coast districts without power after a key 275kV transmission line tripped.
The outage, which affected around 230,000 consumers in six east coast Sabah districts. - September 21, 2025
