KUALA LUMPUR: The signing of the Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore (LTMS) Power Integration Project deal has been delayed for another six months.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said the pioneer project’s memorandum of understanding (MoU), which was due to be signed during the 33rd Asean Ministers on Energy Meeting and Associated Meetings which is being held here from Monday to Friday, has been stalled due to reservations by Singapore.

“The challenges are actually not big. It’s mainly from Singapore but I am confident the MoU would be signed in six months,” he said.

He said Singapore needed some time to go through the agreement, which involves a direct award or direct absorption which bypasses the normal competitive bidding process.

“For now, Singapore needs more time because they need to go through a transparent and competitive bidding process.

This PIP pilot project is carried out in two phases, where under phase one Laos, Thailand and Malaysia can embark on this project with Malaysia buying the proposed 100 megawatts from Laos and Thailand,” he said.

“At this point they are not ready to just impose the MoU conditions and take on the power load through the system,” he added.

-nst