DUN Sarawak: Failure to seal the electricity supply agreement with Brunei this year

KUCHING, Oct. 21: Sarawak is ready to sign the main thermal document for electricity supply connection with Brunei Darussalam and hopes it can be sealed before the end of this year.

Sarawak Premier, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the cooperation was among the issues discussed at the 27th Meeting on Implementation of Letter Exchanges and the 27th Annual Leaders' Negotiations in Bandar Seri Begawan last month.

"We are ready to sign the key thermal document for the electricity supply connection with Brunei and hope it can be sealed before the end of this year", he said.

He said this while delivering his speech on the roll-out of the Supply Bill (2027), 2026 and the Proposal to Refer Budget Resolution for Development Expenditure for the Year 2027 at the 19th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Meeting today.

In related developments, Brother Johari said more than half of the 528-kilometer land border between Sarawak and Brunei has been measured and marked.

Additionally, Sarawak aims for a total electricity generation capacity of 10 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, before increasing to 15 GW by 2035.

According to him, the objective is to enable Sarawak to supply electricity to neighbouring countries through the ASEAN Power Grid and existing bilateral agreements.

He said the targets were shared when he led a Sarawak delegation to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila last September.

"The ADB management expressed interest in supporting Sarawak through financing, technical assistance and support in project preparation", he said.

Among the identified areas of cooperation include regional electricity supply connectivity, green financing and low-carbon urban development, including Kuching Low Carbon Hab.-TVS