KINIBIZ The government should cancel state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) RM11 billion Jimah East power plant project due to likely delays in its completion, said Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) president S Piarapakaran.

“To avoid a serious electricity supply security breach, the federal government should cancel the award of the Jimah East coal power plant project to 1MDB, and call for a new competitive bidding for the construction of a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, which takes only 32 to 36 months to complete,” said Piarapakaran in a statement.

Last December, 1MDB made a request with the Energy Commission to delay by six months the construction and completion of Jimah East, which means that it will only begin to supply power from May 2019 instead of November 2018.

Jimah East’s request for an extension came alongside Malakoff Corporation’s 1,000MW Tanjung Bin power plant that is also requesting for six to 12 months' extension.

Awer estimated that the six months' delay of completion for Jimah East will add RM644 million in fuel cost.

It added that a new CCGT would result in a “more balanced electricity generation mix”, and does not pose a higher risk as claimed by certain parties.

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