SEDCO to get sand ‘monopoly’

KOTA KINABALU: The Land and Survey Department has proposed Sabah Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) be given the monopoly to all the sand mining activities in Sabah, starting June next year.

Its director Datuk Osman Jamal, in proposing this yesterday, said it would help eliminate issues related to sand theft that state authorities currently have to deal with.

"We will use the first six months next year to prepare the paperwork and work out the mechanism and so on, taking into consideration the interest of everyone," he told reporters after the closing of the Land and Survey Department and Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Roundtable Discussion here, yesterday.

Osman said the department would come up with a resolution on the proposal and meet with all the contractors involved to gather their views and inputs so that the mechanism to be developed would be best for all parties, namely the government, SEDCO and the operators.

According to Osman, the proposed exclusive mining rights approach has actually been agreed in principle by the State Government a few years ago but was not implemented due to the absence of a suitable mechanism and the need to give the operators time to get returns from their investment in sand mining activities.

"But come June next year, no sand excavation licenses would be renewed. Existing licenses will however be continued until they expire, and after that SEDCO can take over. For areas where there is no active license, SEDCO can go a head," he said.

Osman said contractors whose licenses have expired could still continue their businesses by applying to be an agent of SEDCO, and it is up to the monopoly holder to decide the criteria for the appointment.

"I think good operators will be accepted by SEDCO, whichever that has the quality, has their own machinery and so on.

"Actually this method is faster and more effective, as anyone who wants to deal with sand mining would only need to go to SEDCO.

"This time we will only need to issue one license, so we cut the time, no more bureaucracy.

"When SEDCO deal with business people, their ways are different. With the government you'll have to follow all this time consuming procedures," he said.

Osman said that from the state's point of view, this is the best approach in managing the sand resources as it would ensure no revenue losses due to sand dredging.

He said the Government will charge SEDCO in advance based on the volume of the sand, which will be determined by the Geoscience Department.

Asked if the Government could assure there would be no or less illegal sand mining once the monopoly is in place, he said SEDCO would be inclined to monitor sand theft activities as basically it would be their property that would be stolen and not the Government's.

This would allow the department to utilise its enforcement officers to focus more on other tasks, such as detecting encroachment on state land, he said.

"This will allow us to concentrate on other matters, so a lot of good things will come from this," he said.
"Under the new system, the responsibility about sand theft would no longer exist, we no longer need to enforce because all the sand is already exclusive to SEDCO.

“So SEDCO has to take care of it, meaning the Government would no longer need to waste resources guarding against sand thieves, because all would be taken care of by SEDCO themselves," he said.
According to Osman, the contractors have yet to be informed about the proposed move.

Asked if SEDCO had the mechanism and capability to monitor sand theft, he said: "Right now the department has to look out for sand theft because the sand still belongs to the government, but in this case SEDCO will pay us in advance so there will be no losses to the Government."

As to who will take action against sand thieves, he indicated that SEDCO as the "owner" may be given certain powers to deal with the problem.

The Borneo Post