UPKO President and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (pix) will asked the Federal Cabinet during its meeting tomorrow to scrap the Petronas gas pipeline project from Kimanis, Sabah to Bintulu, Sarawak."If our call is not heeded by the Federal Government, UPKO will decide its position in Barisan Nasional (BN)...whether or not to leave the national coalition."
"I am committed to articulating about this and I will be talking to the cabinet on Friday. I want to pursue this," he told the Press after launching the Public Complaints Bureau's integrated mobile complaint counter in Donggongon, Penampang, Sabah on Thursday.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi confirmed that the 500km inter-state gas pipeline project would go on despite an earlier decision to scrap it. The RM1.5 billion facility is expected to be operational in 2011.
Dompok said by sending the gas to Bintulu, Sabah which is the major oil-producing State would be in the losing end.
"What is presently proposed by Petronas is merely a landing point in Kimanis and from there, a pipeline is to be built to Bintulu to facilitate the export of gas to other countries in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)."
"They will put it in big tankers and export it. So, what we are saying here is, the gas can be used, firstly as a feed stock for downstream activities (in Sabah) and it can also be used to generate electricity so that we can have energy security for Sabah," he said.
Asked on the call by Sabah Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah deputy liaison head Daniel John Jambun for UPKO o to leave BN following the party's outburst against the project, Dompok said, "They are entitled to their opinions."
"But certainly we are not beholden to any party... our clients are the people. We will cross the bridge when we come to it," he said.
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