After 24 years of being in operation, Port Dickson Power Plant (“PDPP”), wholly owned by Malakoff Corporation Berhad (“Malakoff”), gathered its staff for one last time in a farewell ceremony held on 7 March 2019. The plant ceased operation on 28 February 2019, as the plant’s Extended Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) expired, following its original 21-year PPA that ended in 2016.

The ceremony, attended by Dato’ Ahmad Fuaad Kenali, CEO of Malakoff, saw all of PDPP’s existing and ex-staff together under one roof to celebrate their accomplishments throughout the years.

Dato’ Ahmad Fuaad acknowledged that PDPP’s achievements would not have been made possible without the contribution of those who were the backbone of PDPP’s operations.

“I would like to thank the past and present staff of PDPP who had worked hard to ensure the excellence of the Plant. Your blood, sweat and tears for the past 25 years of operations is highly appreciated and will be remembered,” he added.

PDPP received the license to operate as an Independent Power Producer (“IPP”) from the Government in 1993, following which the construction of the RM700 million plant at Tanjung Gemok, Port Dickson soon commenced.

Scheduled to start its operation 13 months after the start of construction, the hard work and sheer determination of the contractors and staff paid off when PDPP was completed five months ahead of schedule. The first gas turbine started its operation on 29 July 1994, making PDPP the first out of five IPPs to start its gas turbine operation. Later, the three other units followed suit in a span of one month and PDPP began to supply electricity to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (“TNB”) on 2 September 1994.

In 2014, Malakoff acquired Sime Darby Power Generation Division and PDPP became a wholly owned subsidiary of Malakoff. After the expiry of its PPA, PDPP entered into a 3-year extended PPA with TNB in 2016 that came to an end on 28 February 2019.

Mr. Sankar MK Samy, who served as the Plant Manager for PDPP for 5 years, called the staff a “dedicated bunch of people”. He recalled the national power outage in 1996, when PDPP was able to be up and running within an hour and ready to provide power to the grid, an indication of the dedication and efficiency of the staff and plant.

To most of them, PDPP was their initial training ground to learn the basic fundamentals of operating a power plant and most of them steadily built their career paths at the plant. Subsequently, together with their fellow comrades, they advanced their operational knowledge to ensure that PDPP was operated smoothly.

The audience were also taken down the memory lane with the viewing of a video aptly titled “PDPP in Memory” that showcased of the plant’s history and achievements which left most of them teary-eyed.

As a token to the staff who had served the plant for 20 years or more, Dato’ Fuaad presented each of them with certificates of appreciation.

To symbolise the closing of PDPP, the event concluded with a key handover ceremony, where Ir. Mat Nasir Mohamed, the last PDPP Plant Manager presented a GE Frame 9E crossfire tube, an actual part of the combustion section of the gas turbine as a memento to Dato’ Fuaad.