PETALING JAYA: Petronas will hand over control of Sabah’s gas resources to the state, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar said the Cabinet has agreed that control over Sabah’s gas resources should be transferred from Putrajaya through Petronas to the state government.
“This has already been done in Sarawak, and now it (Sabah’s gas resources) will be transferred to the Sabah government,” he told a press conference today.
He said implementation will begin once royal assent is given.
“While there will be ongoing negotiations (between Petronas and the Sabah government), the control (of gas resources) will ultimately be given to the state government,” he said.
For decades, there have been calls for the federal government to return control of oil and gas resources in Sabah and Sarawak to the state governments.
Anwar also said more issues pertaining to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) have been resolved and that the details will be announced next month.
“There are some issues that require amendments to the law. This has to be put on hold until Parliament convenes. But we have resolved some big issues,” he said.
In September, it was reported that 15 issues pertaining to MA63 had yet to be resolved.
More recently, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said Anwar has given him one month to settle unresolved demands related to MA63.
