KOTA KINABALU – Prepaid electric supply appears to have been proposed as the solution for former Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) workers who are still staying inside the abandoned pulp mill estate.
According to former worker Jeffrey Gopog, the prepaid system was mooted in a meeting between several other workers and Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Mohd Yaakob Jaafar early yesterday.
The Vibes recently reported that the electricity supply to the abandoned pulp mill estate was cut off for the second time after it failed to settle a total of RM324,965.45 in unpaid arrears on May 4.
https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/91853/former-employees-of-defunct-sfi-decry-second-power-cut
“The matter (prepaid metres) has been proposed, but he (Yaakob) still needs to bring the matter to the SESB’s board of directors and report this to the Sabah cabinet,” Gopog, told The Vibes.
Gopog said he can only hope power will be restored in the living quarters by the end of May.
Some 600 of the former workers are still staying within the estate since the company went bust in November 2021.
Electricity supply had also been cut off by SESB in December 2022 after SFI raked up over RM700,000 in unpaid bills, but later reconnected it following state government’s intervention.
The estate had come under receivership of a company which was also in charge of collecting and paying the electricity bills for the use of the whole estate.
Without power, those staying inside the estate would also have no treated water as it depends on the electric water pump from the in-house treatment plant to supply water into the living quarters, Gopog said. – The Vibes, May 10, 2023
