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KUALA LUMPUR: No new power plant is needed for the country until the end of next year as electricity demand has dropped from 4.8% last year to this year’s 2.8%, said Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor.
He said the country’s electricity reserve margin was also expected to rise from 42% to 47% next year with the commissioning of a new independent power producer (IPP) in Jimah, Negri Sembilan.
“We don’t have to worry about power supply because we have enough capacity until the end of next year and there is no need to build a new plant,” he said Tuesday after launching Kampus Astro here.
He said the Government also aimed at reducing the reserve margin to 25% by 2015.
Shaziman said five power purchase agreements would expire by 2016. The extension of their contracts would be subject to the availability of gas supply from Petronas.
“Until now, Petronas still cannot give us confirmation on whether there would be gas supply until 2019 and we will have to wait for its reply,” he said.
He added that retired plants could still generate electricity and it would be cheaper to do so.
In his speech, Shaziman urged Astro to be more sensitive to the public’s complaints and the Government’s advice by improving its services and quality.
“The ministry and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission would prefer it if Astro could refer or discuss with us in detail before offering any services that would cause the public to complain,” he said.
Astro chief executive officer Rohana Rozhan said the company was working on its customer service waiting time and making its programmes more relevant for customers. Admin Note: Next news report published around the same time KUALA TERENGGANU: Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is in the midst of building another hydroelectric plant in Hulu Terengganu to supplement the escalating energy needs of the nation.
TNB chairman Tan Sri Leo Moggie said work on the new dam is expected to commence next year and it is expected to take three years to complete. Set for completion in 2013, the dam is expected to generate 250 megawatts of hydropower.
“We have yet to decide on matters like the cost of the project as we are in the midst of processing the issuance of the tender,” he said Tuesday after the signing ceremony of the second supplementary agreement on the royalty for the water usage at Sultan Mahmud Hydroelectric Dam in Kenyir Lake, Hulu Terengganu with the Terengganu Government at Wisma Darul Iman, here.
Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said and deputy State Secretary (development) Datuk Adzlan Mohd Dagang represented the state government during the ceremony.
Moggie said the electricity supply from the second dam would be channelled via a two kilometre delivery line that would connect the existing Kenyir-Tanah Merah (Kelantan) network thus connecting to the national grid.
He said the second dam would boost the construction of an underground supply station and two dams, Puah Dam with a height of 78m and Tembat Dam with a height of 30m. He said the project would also create two man-made lakes, the Puah Lake that is about 6,000ha in size and Tembat Lake that is scaled approximately 130ha, both fringing Kenyir Lake.
Moggie said a detailed environmental impact assessment will be carried out prior to commencing the project so that it would not be disruptive to the surrounding environmental and aquatic ecosystem.
He said TNB would take all precautionary measures to protect, preserve and safeguard the ecosystem at these sites by adhering to the standard set by the relevant bodies before the start of the project.
On the supplementary agreement, the state would receive RM11.3mil annually as water royalty for the next one decade.
The agreement was the third revision after the first was stamped in 1987 where the state received a royalty of RM3.8mil, annually for 10 years and another was signed in 1997 until it expired in 2007. Admin Note: TNB and Minister contradicted each other...
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I just don't get it on the logic for this! Just like using the much more expensive public transportation! 
