Ba’Kelalan people demand dialogue with Petronas

No report as promised on June 2014 explosion along Sabah-Sarawak gas pipeline.

LAWAS: The people in Ba’Kelalan, a stone’s throw from the Sabah-Sarawak interstate gas pipeline, are demanding a promised report and dialogue on the explosion in June last year at a section between Lawas and Long Sukang. They have lived in fear for their safety ever since that day.

The fiery explosion, heard some 12km away in Lawas, forced a temporary shutdown of the RM4 billion-project.

They do not rule out public protests should Petronas start shipping gas via the pipeline next month to South Korea and Japan as the local grapevine has it.

Ba’Kelalan Assemblyman Baru Bian, raising the issue, disclosed that the soil where the explosion occurred may not be firm as it was “still moving”.

“We are certainly concerned about our safety, especially the villagers in my village which is just 3km from the project,” said Baru who confirmed that he would support any public protests against the pipeline. “Some parts of the pipeline were exposed above ground.”

The 512km long pipeline, from Kimanis in Sabah to Bintulu in Sarawak, was completed last year.

There was speculation at one time, after the explosion, that parts of the pipeline which were then still under construction would be realigned in the interest of public safety but nothing came out of it.

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