KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has proposed for a carbon exchange centre, similar to that in foreign countries actively involved in the carbon trading market, to be located in Sabah.
The Deputy Chief Minister said he had suggested the idea to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during a previous private discussion with the Prime Minister.
“(I told Anwar) why not site the carbon exchange centre in Sabah because we already have a product,” he said to reporters on the sidelines of a forum entitled “Sabah’s New Sources of Revenue” here on Thursday (June 22).
“We have some two million hectares (earmarked) for conservation and we have a product to sell to the world and to attract investments,” he added.
Kitingan, who is also state Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister, said he will be calling for a steering committee meeting for carbon trading in Sabah next month.
He added that he has held discussions with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor over the matter.
“Hopefully, we can start (the process), we start a small one first.
“The Forestry Department is looking into the details,” he said.
In his New Year message last year, Kitingan had expressed hope that the carbon trade deal would be implemented this year.
The deal is also known as the Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA) which has been a point of contention in Sabah.
The NCA has drawn heavy criticism from conservationists and politicians, with Kitingan involved in a war of words over the deal with Opposition lawmakers at the Sabah state assembly sitting in December last year.
The NCA was intended to initially involve some 600,000ha of Sabah’s totally protected areas and could entail some two million hectares in future.
If approved, this NCA is set to be in force for the next 100 years.
In February last year, the state government clarified that the controversial NCA was still not enforceable as due diligence was still being conducted on the third-party company involved.
In a separate issue, Kitingan said he had also discussed with Anwar about flood mitigation in Sabah which needed some RM17bil in funds to implement.
He said he suggested to Anwar that it could be a good idea to pay companies or investors in “sand payment” in exchange they would carry out flood mitigation projects.
“We don’t have the money so, I suggested to him that (since) there are investors who will accept payment of sand cleared from the rivers, river mouths or so on.
“He (Anwar) said this was being done in the Peninsular Malaysia, they pay (for flood mitigation projects) using sand.
“By that way, we would solve two problems - firstly, we could clear blockages and secondly, we solve the issue of flood mitigation,” Kitingan said.
