<b>Sabah</b> seas for tourism in conservation - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah |
| <b>Sabah</b> seas for tourism in conservation - The Borneo Post Online Posted: 20 Jan 2014 09:22 AM PST KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is expected to attract 3.4 million visitors and generate RM6 billion in tourism revenue this year. Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun told press members after launching the book: "The Sensational Seas of Sabah" by Scubazoo yesterday that they expected to exceed last year's revenue of RM5.7 billion from the industry this year. "At the same time, the ministry also expects to exceed last year's tourists arrivals of 3.2 million," he said. He then went on to say the revenue generated from the tourism sector had now exceeded the logging industry, which was once the state's major revenue generator. "The income from the logging sector was once RM2 billion but last year, it generated only RM1 million – it was due to the decision of the present Chief Minister who decided to cancel the logging concessions in Sabah several years ago. It was a bold step to ensure that the forest was conserved and less trees were cut," he said. He described the decision by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman as a wise one and that Sabah was now reaping the fruits from that wise decision since the income generated from the tourism sector now exceeded that of the logging sector. "In the logging sector, we realised that once the last tree was logged, that was the end," he said. He then called on the industry and the people of Sabah to support efforts to look after the state's natural heritage and not let the quest for more profit to deter them from doing what is right. "We need the strength to look after our islands, our nature and disallow acts that lead to degradation – that is why we limit the number of visitors on Sipadan to 120 people daily and to the Kinabalu Peak to 192 people daily. If our quest was for more profit, we will soon lose Sipadan and Kinabalu. I hope the industry will support this," he said. He also said as a result of the conservation efforts undertaken by various parties in Sabah, the state was now endowed with a rich natural heritage that is unmatched by many other countries in the world. "And what we have underwater is not enjoyed by other places in the world," he said. Meanwhile, Jason Isley, the managing director of Scubazoo said their newly launched book was geared towards enticing tourists to visit less visited islands in Sabah and reduce the pressure on Sipadan Island. He said the book presented some 300 powerful and emotive images gathered throughout a journey along the stunning coast of Sabah. "Beginning in the south west on Tiga Island in the South China Sea, we travel to the Tip of Borneo and the Sulu Sea before making our way south through the Celebes Sea where our final dive destination is the world famous Sipadan Island," he said. In describing the condition of Sabah's coastline, Scubazoo operations manager Simon Enderby said he could see a lot of improvement in the conditions of the reefs that were once decimated. "In just a short time of rehabilitation efforts by resorts, corals have come back. You can see a lot of improvement," he said. He added that these could be seen on islands like Langkayan and Selingan. He also attributed the positive changes to awareness programmes that have led to a reduction in the number of people using fish bombing methods to catch fish. "Over the years, Sabah has done well to contain dynamite fishing," he said. Also present at the event was Sabah Tourism Board (STB) chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.  To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.  |
| <b>Sabah</b> reels under power outage - The Borneo Post Online Posted: 17 Jan 2014 11:35 AM PST by Sandra Sokial. Posted on January 18, 2014, Saturday KOTA KINABALU: A statewide power outage yesterday brought much of Sabah and Labuan to a standstill for hours, affecting businesses and about half a million consumers. Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd managing director Ir Abdul Razak Sallim described the major power outage as 'beyond expectation," adding that efforts were being carried out to identify the cause of the disruption. He said initial investigation showed that the first power trip was recorded at 10:56:47 seconds due to current differential (red phase), but it was restored within 100 milisecond (ms), or 0.001 second. "However, after restoration was done, a second later, our Independent Power Plant in Sepanggar tripped causing power losses of about 200 Megawatt (MW). "We are surprised ourselves because actually, with the design used on the power installation, it should not have brought the system down. We are puzzled ourselves and will be investigating the real cause, which means going back to the operators to find out," he explained to reporters, about four hours after the power disruption was clocked at 11.05am. Abdul Razak said before the incident, there was 877MW of power available to meet the demand status for Sabah and Labuan at 731MW. The reserve was 146MW. "However, after the incident, the losses were recorded at 352.8MW, or about 50 per cent total collapse. Our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is to activate the Emergency Response Plan (ERP) by activating the islanding mode at all affected areas. We have six islands, namely Melawa, Salut, Labuan, Pangi, Tawau and Sandakan," he said. Restoration works were immediately carried out with Ranau being the first area to be fully restored at 12.15pm, after 70 minutes of power disruption, followed by Tawau and Labuan at 1pm, Keningau (1.50pm) and Semporna (1.55pm). As of 4pm yesterday, about 70 per cent of power had been restored. "We will wait for power to stabilise at all the islands before connecting it. It will be done in stages. We believe power will be restored by 6pm, and latest by 9pm," said Abdul Razak. adding that at least 500,000 people were affected by the power outage. As of 4.30pm, the Pangi and Labuan islands have been connected. "We need an anchor plant in both the East and West coast areas to ensure that there is no repeat of such major power breakdown in the future," he said. On another development, Abdul Razak said customers are allowed to claim for damage to their electrical goods if they are able to prove it beyond doubt. "What they need to do is to lodge a police report and submit the claim to us. We will assign a valuer to identify and prove the cause of the damage. If it is proven that it was due to negligence, then we are obliged to reimburse," assured Abdul Razak. Meanwhile, the power outage forced most shops at shopping complexes and other parts of the city to close between 5pm and 6pm, while traffic congestion was eased when policemen came to man various traffic intersections. The last massive blackout that occurred in Sabah was in April 2012 when a gas piping system malfunctioned and affected several independent power producers. Supply was restored within the same day. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
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