By Nancy Nais and Chris Bishop
SIBU, Oct 3: The Sarawak government hopes to be able to explore into the state’s oil and gas resources this mid October.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg was very assertive when he said this during Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Special Convention for Central Zone here today.
“I am in the midst of negotiating right now. Maybe by this mid October we will execute our power in the exploration of oil and gas.
“We will not back out on this. Let us pray hard,” Abang Johari said, followed by loud applaud from some 1,000 PBB members at the event.
However, he did not elaborate further what he meant when he said the Sarawak will execute her power in oil and gas exploration.
Meanwhile, Abang Johari also disclosed that the state government is considering the proposal to set up an authority or board that will control all the natural and man-made lakes in Sarawak.
“In other countries such as Italy or Eastern Europe, these lakes have been turned into tourism attractions.
“We have many lakes in Sarawak but we will need an authority to administer all of them. There are a lot of criteria to consider as well, such as security or even zoning because not all of these areas can be expanded by building hotels etc,” he explained.
Abang Johari later assured that the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) comprising PBB, Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) remained committed in developing the state.
Some 1,000 delegates from PBB Central Zone attended the special convention despite it being organised on a smaller scale in compliance with the standard operating procedure to curb Covid-19.-DayakDaily
