ITS success helping rural folk generate electricity has earned local aid group Tonibung (Friends of Village Development) the recognition from the Rural Development Ministry.

The ministry will work with Tonibung to kick-start 10 micro-hydropower projects in a pilot programme next year.

Tonibung is no stranger to the power game and has helped several off-grid villages over the last decade generate electricity for their consumption.  

Its director, senator Adrian Lasimbang, said the project has been approved by the ministry and is awaiting the Sabah Rural Development Ministry to name 10 villages.

“If successful, the project could be a model of how rural electrification can be implemented in off-grid villages nationwide,” said Lasimbang.

He said ministry officials came to know of Tonibung after reading an article on The Malaysian Insight.

“About a week after it was published, I have had several meetings with the Rural Development Ministry officers, including Deputy Minister R. Sivarasa, who has seen one of our completed works in Ulu Papar, Terian, in Penampang.”

The ministry has spent more than RM400 million for the rural electrification programme under the 11th Malaysia Plan, but many are botched.

More than 200 electrification systems have been abandoned.

After the 11MP mid-term review, the ministry received hundreds of rural electrification proposals, but is giving the Tonibung model a try.

What sets the Tonibung programmes apart from commercial projects is that the group does not leave communities after installing the turbines.

Instead, the programme focuses on getting the communities involved.

“They are involved in all stages – from raising funds to buying the micro-hydropower plants, setting up a revolving fund to maintain the equipment, as well as salary for their own trained village engineers,” Lasimbang said.

There are three components to a project – feasibility, implementation and training.

Lasimbang said his micro-hydropower system is being audited to meet the standards approved by the Energy Commission.

All of the micro hydropower units are built at the Tonibung workshop in Inobong, Penampang. – December 23, 2018.