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Mega dams will kill goose that laid golden eggs

The Sarawak government’s proposal for generating 80 percent of the power required for the industries in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) to be from hydro electric power (HEP) dams would inevitably result in an irreversible or un-repairable social and environmental damage. Doing that would be like the tale of the person in his greed killed the goose which laid the golden eggs, just to regret later.

The proposed mega dams to generate the 20,000MW, which is 80 percent of the electricity required after SCORE, would inundate a vast area of Sarawak’s valuable land. As an illustration, Bakun HEP dam, which has the installed power of 2,400MW, flooded an area equivalent to the size of Singapore Island. Just imagine the immense area which will be flooded and forever destroyed by the dams which will generate 20,000MW.

To make things even worse, the industries in SCORE powered by the HEP dams are aluminium smelting and the like which will pollute the environment with toxic flue gas and by-products. As if the destruction on land and rivers is not enough, the industries will also make sure that the air is also polluted.

We in Save Rivers totally oppose the proposal for the construction of mega dams. We are against the approach taken by the government in developing SCORE. There are other alternative to development which are more environmental and social friendly.


PETER KALLANG is chairperson of Save Rivers.

 

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