He said the state government had confidence in the company, and had done its due diligence with background checks prior to signing.
"But members of the House are welcome to ask questions and get the answers they want on this matter," Kitingan said. Kitingan said Hoch Standard approached the previous state government about four years ago, and as part of the agreement would provide the trading platform that will connect offtakers, auditors, asset verifiers and the United Nations body involved in carbon trading.He said delaying the implementation of the deal would cause revenue losses for the state.
He also explained that the pilot project involved 600,000ha of gazetted forest reserve under Sabah's Totally Protected Areas, which would in time be expanded to two million ha if all goes well.