KOTA KINABALU : The Institute for Development Studies (Sabah), in collaboration with Tobpinai Ningkokoton Koburuon Kampung (TONIBUNG) is organising its second series of Sabah Talk entitled Implementation of Renewable Energy Through Empowering Rural Communities on Friday, 8th March 2019 held in Centre of Excellence/ IDS Hall, Wisma SEDIA, Kota Kinabalu.
In a statement today, Chief Executive Officer of IDS, Datuk Dr Johan Arriffin Samad said that rural electrification has always been a major concern in Sabah’s setting where most of the rural populations are still not able to have good access to electricity. Access to energy is deemed to be one of the most important pillars to support the socio-economic development where it serves as one of the indispensable tools to help in reducing poverty level.
“One of the main constrains of lack of supply in the rural areas of Sabah is the decentralized geographical settings where most of the rural places are scattered, posing a technical and financial difficulty for conventional on-grid electric supply,” said Datuk Dr Johan. He stressed that Sabah is in need to look into an alternative of using off-grid renewable resources to cater to the rural populations as a long term solution to elevate the local communities to be more productive and self-reliant.
According to Datuk Dr Johan, “In order to move towards sustainable rural electrification, the application of renewable energy needs to be implemented within the local setting through empowering of local communities and integrating them to participate in the projects”. The model set by TONIBUNG pioneered by YB Senator Adrian Lasimbang on rural electrification that encompasses community engagement is one of the successful efforts to empower rural communities and boosting their socio-economic growth.
Acknowledging the importance of this topic in the development of Sabah, IDS and TONIBUNG has initiated Sabah Talk: Implementation of Renewable Energy Through Empowering Rural Communities presented by YB Senator Adrian Lasimbang to provide an avenue for both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to have further discussions and to gain a better understanding on the scenario of rural electrification in Sabah.
About one hundred participants, from both public and private sectors are expected to participate in this talk. Any inquiries can be directed to Kamilia Kamaruzaman or Naetaly Nicole Ramanus at 088 450 500.
