Fadillah says given present economic climate, decision will benefit at least 1.1 mln households

KUCHING: The decision to give free electricity to households using RM20 or less worth of energy per month has been hailed as a practical thing to do in the present economic climate.

State Barisan Nasional youth chief, Petra Jaya MP Fadillah Yusof, yesterday defended the government’s decision in Budget 2009.

“I don’t deny hearing doubts from people who question the existence of households incurring RM20 or less in their monthly electricity bill. But studies have proven that there are 1.1 households in Malaysia that use RM20 or less per month.

“For some of us, RM20 is a small amount. But for others, RM20 can mean a lot, especially the lower income group as that amount will be enough to last them several days in a week; unlike many of us who may spend RM20 or more per day,” he said.

Fadillah, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) youth chief, said this to reporters after launching the Sukma Ria Ramadan Bazaar in Semariang here yesterday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, when presenting Budget 2009 last Friday, said as part of the government’s effort to further reduce the financial burden of the lower income group, households which incurred monthly electricity bill of RM20 or less, would not have to pay for electricity.

This will be implemented for the period of Oct 1 this year until the end of 2009.

Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Dato Sri Awang Tengah Ali Hassan had said on Sunday that Sarawak would follow suit in implementing the same move throughout the state.

On another matter, Fadillah, who is also Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations, said the cabinet paper on nuclear power could possibly be ready before year-end.

The first draft of the paper was currently being refined and looked into thoroughly by experts before it could be presented to the cabinet, he said.

“Our target is to present the paper to the cabinet within this year,” he added.

Fadillah said his ministry and the Ministry of Energy, Water and Telecommunications worked together in preparing the paper, which was for the government to look into the possibility, policy-wise, of including nuclear as one of the sources of power generation.

Nuclear power is also nothing new in Malaysia since the nation’s first and only nuclear reactor in Malaysian Institute of Nuclear Technology and Research (MINT) has been in operation since 1982 albeit for research purposes.

Asked to comment on Budget 2009, especially on the benefits for the science and technology sector, Fadillah said research works on renewable energy and food security would grow following the government’s proposal to exempt those non-resident experts from taxes.

The proposal to exempt import duty and sales tax on energy efficiency equipments such as high efficiency motors and insulation materials would also encourage more research works to be done by local researchers and institutions, he said.

“This is particularly important in researching for alternative and renewable energy resources for Malaysia. As we all know, the prices of fossil fuel keeps on fluctuating, while Malaysia’s fuel and gas reserves may be exhausted in several years time, and the country may be a net importer of fuel in the future,” he said.