Chamber: SESB a wet blanket to investors
Published on: Thursday, May 07, 2015
Labuan: The Labuan Chinese Chamber of Commerce (LCCC) called on Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) to keep abreast with the changing situation of Labuan with increasing demand for power by having the required "assets" readily available. Its Chairman Datuk Wong Kii Yii said this was important so that investors would not have to wait for months before SESB could meet their demands for more power supply. "Delays cause losses and SESB should not become the wet blanket to industry players," he said after leading four LCCC officials to pay a courtesy call on the new SESB general manager, Sudali, and also to express disappointment over the long time needed to secure a new transformer.ADVERTISEMENT Wong was referring to an oil and gas company here which had applied for a transformer to boost power supply at the company's establishment and even paid the required deposit of RM200,000 but had been told that the transformer could only be secured and fixed after about eight months.This is due to the procedure of SESB which involves calling for tenders to secure the transformer and to transport and fix it.Wong said SESB had been in business for many years and was well aware that Labuan is an oil and gas hub. "As a natural consequence of this status, there would be increasing and even unexpected demands for power supply in some areas. "It should have planned accordingly and do away with long-winded and out-of-date procedures so that public satisfaction could be met.ADVERTISEMENT "If SESB said it would take three months it would be quite acceptable but eight months was too long a period in these days of advanced technology," he added.He said the delay had resulted in the investor unable to commence operations, paying rental on unused premises, losing business opportunities and keeping under-utilised support staff.
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Wong hoped SESB would view the matter seriously and remove the hassles and hindrance that were damaging its image and affecting others. Sudali said he would study the matter as he was still new here. LCCC also complained about SESB having only two vendors to plant electric poles, saying that this was insufficient and caused delays. On this, Sudali said SESB had plans to increase the number to five vendors.The two other issues brought up by the Chamber related to disconnection of supplies due to delayed or unpaid SESB bills. Wong suggested that instead of any extreme action, SESB should give a second chance by calling the user for a discussion on the bill rather than shocking the user with a sudden blackout. "After all neither was SESB perfect in its power distribution, considering the outages now occurring." On the SESB hotline of 15454 which covers Sabah and Labuan, Wong suggested that SESB has a separate hotline for Labuan so that residents here could get quick response for queries. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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He said under the present system when the hotline was inundated with calls following a major blackout, there was hardly any quick response to calls. He said during the last major blackout during Labour Day, residents here rang up to SESB hotline but no one was picking up, and someone responded hours later when supplies had been restored.The other members of the chamber who accompanied Wong are Chin Kon Thai (deputy), Roger Foo (Secretary) Seah Kiat Leong and Chia Sia Peng.