KOTA KINABALU – The electricity and water supply to the Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) estate in Sipitang has been cut off this morning, affecting almost 2,000 former workers in the housing quarters.
Spokesman for the former workers, Jeffrey Gopog, told The Vibes that the electricity supply was cut off around 11am today by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd after the estate accumulated more than RM700,000 in unpaid power bills over the last two years.
He said electricity is used to power the internal water treatment plant and without it, the former workers will have no water.
He added that the ex-workers now plan to picket inside the estate around 3.30pm tomorrow.
Gopog said there are around 640 houses currently occupied by more than 2,000 former workers and their families.
A notice, which was sighted by The Vibes, revealed that the estate has an overdue bill of RM700,070.48 plus an additional current bill of RM98,420.
The due date for the overdue bill was December 9.
“The bill was accumulated two years ago when SFI was still under the receivership of Grant Thornton (GT). GT could not settle the bill because its funds were frozen.
“GT paid some of the bill from selling off some of the SFI assets such as vehicles and scrap metal, but may have not been able to pay it in full.”
According to Gopog, some RM100,000 was raised by the residents and GT to pay a portion of the bill on November 11.
He added that they had reached out to local elected representatives but were met with disappointing responses.
“They told us they truly sympathised with us, but only Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor can resolve our problems.”
The state government has allowed the former SFI workers to continue living in the workers’ quarters after the Sabah Land and Survey Department issued a reclamation notice for the 46.033ha estate.
The residents were concerned that they might be evicted from their homes.
On November 16, the high court rejected the SFI suit against the chief minister and the state government over the cancellation of its timber licence agreements following the closure of the pulp and paper mill. – The Vibes, December 13, 2022
