Utilities of Malaysia

utilities

Power

Malaysia has abundant electricity supply resources. The dominant fuel source is gas, which contributes more than half of the national energy demand. Alongside its ongoing population boom, demand for electricity will naturally increase, though this should be comfortably dealt with by the country’s native supplies. In Peninsular Malaysia, electricity is supplied by the private company Tenaga Nasional Berhad and in East Malaysia by Sabah Electricity – jointly owned by Tenaga Nasional Berhad and the state Government of Sabah – and the private Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation.

The state-owned Petronas, which is among the largest companies in Malaysia, dominates the country’s oil industry through partnerships with other international players, particularly in the exploration sector. Petroleum giants British Petroleum and Shell also operate in the country. The Malaysian Oil and Gas Services Council is the leading trade association in the sector.

 

Water

Malaysia has a dependable, plentiful and safe water supply alongside its high average annual rainfall of 300 cm. The entire  population of Malaysia uses an improved drinking water source and 96 per cent of people have adequate sanitation facilities (2010). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, several public–private partnership projects were implemented in the water supply and sanitation sector, including three build–operate–transfer-style water supply projects between 1987–89, and one build–operate–transfer-style sewerage project in 1992.

Water utilities in Malaysia are managed and overseen by individual state water authorities. The Central Federal Public Works Department in Kuala Lumpur oversees their operations, while the National Water Services Commission serves as the national regulatory body for water supply in the country.

The Water Resources Master Plan sees the development of water resources for the country up to 2050 as involving around 60 major water projects, including building new dams, raising existing dams, constructing new treatment plants, inter-state water transfer and identifying catchment areas for development.

 

Telecoms

Due to sustained private investment, Malaysia possesses one of the most advanced telecoms and internet sectors in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Main mobile providers include Maxis, Celcom and DiGi, while the main fixed line operator is Telekom Malaysia. A major restructuring process saw Telekom Malaysia merge its mobile sector with Celcom, creating Axiata.

In 2008, the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications and Telekom Malaysia Berhad signed a public–private partnership agreement to officially launch Phase 1 of an initiative to provide high-speed broadband throughout Malaysia.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission acts as the primary regulator for the sector. Although the industry is privatised and saturated with competition, the government has put through many initiatives to capitalise on growth and plans for the future. Government policy on the telecoms industry has been driven by its Vision 2020 policy. The plan is to achieve this by attracting advanced IT and multimedia companies to the country, which will in turn filter through to the telecoms sector and expand the related infrastructure.