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Malaysia's new Tenaga

chief to renew confidence

in power gaint

KUALA LUMPUR: The incoming chief of Malaysia's Tenaga Nasional Bhd has vowed to restore consumers confidence in the power giant after a national blackout earlier this month, a news report said on Saturday.

Ahmad Tajuddin Ali, picked by Premier Mahathir Mohammed to replace Ani Arope after the August 3 power outage, said his immediate task was to ensure there would be no more power outages.

Countering the current joke that the acronym for TNB is "Total National Blackout," Tajudin said: "My acronym for TNB is Tajuddin No Blackout ... maybe," he was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying.

Tajuddin acknowledged the huge task ahead to regain consumers confidence and restore the staff morale after Tenaga came under a barrage of criticisms for the 16-hour power outage.

Ani had come under fire for the outage which led to the government's refusal to renew his contract, due to expire at the end of this month.

The blackout shook the confidence of foreign and local manufacturers, who said they suffered losses of about 123 million ringgit (49 million dollars) due to the electricity failure.

Apart from replacing Ani, government announced plans to revamp the Tenaga management.

However, Tajuddin said he would first have to study Tenaaga's present structure and examine the best approach for adjustment.

Meanwhile, the Business Times reported Tenaga would offer rebates up to 100 million ringgit (40 million dollars) as compensation to those affected by the blackout.

Disbursement of the rebate would be spread over a month, said the newspaper, quoting industry sources.

However, Tenaga officials were not available to comment on the report.

Tenaga stock closed 10 sen lower at 9.20 ringgit on the local bourse on Friday.-APP